Guyana backs US sanctions over alleged fake ship registry
Guyana has welcomed United States sanctions against an alleged maritime fraud network that it says made ships appear to be registered under the Guyanese flag.
The United States Department of the Treasury announced the sanctions on Wednesday, November 4, designating India-based Suniel Kumar Sharma and his wife, Jaspreet Preeti Shahid, under Operation Economic Outcast, along with several associated companies. The US says false registrations and certificates helped vessels carrying Iranian oil evade restrictions.
Guyana’s Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), in a statement issued on Thursday, November 5, welcomed the action, saying the couple had been instrumental in managing a network that fraudulently represented vessels as registered in Guyana through a company calling itself the International Maritime Safety Agency of Guyana (IMSAG).
According to the US Treasury, the network set up websites purporting to offer services such as vessel registration, seafarer certification and ship classification on behalf of governments that had given it no authority. Treasury identified Guyana as one of several jurisdictions whose names were used.
MARAD says it never authorised any outside entity to transact flag business on its behalf, and Guyana runs a closed registry, limited to Guyanese nationals and residents, CARICOM citizens, and companies established under Guyanese law. The sanctions do not target Guyana or its authorised registry.
The US authorities cited the case of the Majestic X, an oil tanker the US boarded in the Indian Ocean in April. Treasury says the vessel was carrying Iranian oil and falsely claiming Guyanese registration at the time. The tanker, formerly known as PHONIX, was already sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2024 for smuggling Iranian crude oil.
Sharma told Lloyd’s List he had left the ship-registration business months earlier and denied responsibility for the current operations.
MARAD said Guyana had raised fraudulent vessel registration at international and regional shipping forums, including a maritime security symposium in Antigua and Barbuda in July, and said it would continue working with foreign maritime and enforcement authorities to protect the integrity of its ship registry.
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