President Irfaan Ali on Sunday refuted allegations by Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed regarding his investments in a farm along the Soesdyke, Linden Highway. While the President has owned the farm for over a decade, Mohamed falsely claimed that it was only acquired in 2020.
The President had only a day earlier made remarks to rice farmers in Region Two, offering wisdom based on his own experience being an investor in the sector. While distributing cash grants to rice farmers at Anna Regina, the President reflected on years past when he took “loans upon loans” to invest in agriculture. He did not seek to distance himself from those investments. Instead, he spoke about them openly before a public audience while carrying out his official duties. The President was, at the time, using this experience to encourage farmers to work hard to grow their own businesses.
Those remarks came a day before Mohamed made spurious allegations that the President’s agricultural estate is evidence of corruption and misuse of taxpayers’ money. The video’s central premise is that the scale of the investment could not have been financed legitimately and therefore must have been built using the people’s resources.
Importantly, the President has declared all of his assets to the Integrity Commission, as is required by law. Mohamed throughout his entire storytelling provided not a single shred of evidence that proves corruption or the absence of accountability. Instead, his case rests almost entirely on estimates with no invoices, contracts, procurement documents, or bank records produced to substantiate them.
Since being sanctioned by the United States, Mohamed has been on a campaign to divert attention from legal proceedings that are to be brought before him in Florida for corruption and fraud. His political strategy has included character assassinations against the President and other members of his Cabinet.