News Room Reports : Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has ridiculed claims made by U.S.-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed that he would refuse a presidential salary if elected. At a public meeting in Parfait Harmonie, Mohamed told supporters he would instead donate his salary to charity.
However, during a media briefing on Thursday, Jagdeo dismissed this promise as hollow. “So he says he won’t take a salary — but this is a man who evaded $11 billion in taxes. He hasn’t served a single day in government yet he’s already collected the equivalent of 275 years of a presidential salary,” Jagdeo stated.
Jagdeo accused Mohamed of enriching himself through gold smuggling and tax evasion, noting that even the duties avoided on his luxury Lamborghini exceed “ten years of a president’s salary.” He characterized Mohamed’s assertion as a “sham,” questioning the credibility of someone under U.S. sanctions for gold smuggling while claiming to fight corruption.
“It’s insulting that someone sanctioned by the United States now parades himself as a champion of clean governance,” Jagdeo said. He emphasized the irony of Mohamed, whom he labeled the “most corrupt person in this country,” being the loudest critic of corruption.
Jagdeo pointed out the severe consequences of Mohamed’s sanctions, stating, “He can’t even have a bank account anywhere in the world because of international sanctions.”
Mohamed was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department last year for alleged involvement in transnational gold smuggling, fraud, and other illicit activities, which he has vehemently denied. Jagdeo urged the public to see through what he called “cheap stunts and empty talk.”
VP Jagdeo Defends Bank Account Closures Linked to U.S. Sanctions
