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WIN Lawyer to write banks over closure of members accounts – Mohamed
Kaieteur News – Leader of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party and US- sanctioned businessman, Azruddin Mohamed on Saturday said his lawyer will be writing the local banks that closed the accounts of his candidates and members to have them reinstated.
Leader of WIN party and businessman, Azruddin Mohamed
Mohamed, in an interview with Kaieteur News, said that over 70 persons have been affected.
Mohamed said that the situation is devastating and heartbreaking. The new politician said he said contacted the Governor of the Bank of Guyana, Gobind Ganga on Friday for a status on the accounts. He noted that many of the persons associated with his party are to be paid by the government.
“So I called the Governor yesterday and I asked him what is the status on the accounts and he told me that we should get the lawyers to write the banks. Our candidates, a lot of them will be on the RDCs serving as councillors, they would be at different Boards, they would be working at GECOM, they would be Members of Parliament and they would be receiving money from the government,” he told Kaieteur News.
“So we need the accounts to be reinstated immediately,” Mohamed added.
Kaieteur News reported that following the publication of WIN’s List of Candidates in July, local financial institutions, cut ties with the members of WIN with some citing the OFAC sanctions imposed on Mohamed by the United States as the reason for the decision.
Last year, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Azruddin Mohamed and his father Nazar Mohamed, citing allegations of defrauding the Guyanese government of US$50 million in taxes through gold smuggling, as well as bribing public officials.
Mohamed maintained that what happened to the supporters’ accounts is a case of victimization and political persecution by the government.
“It’s a clear case of victimization and fear mongering tactics to scare our supporters and voters away from me, it worked, it worked in the PPP’s favour because persons were scared to go about to throw support,” he said.
The businessman noted that while his supporters were affected, he claimed, “Republic Bank, they didn’t close the accounts of my family, that is my mother and sisters, they still have their accounts there and they are the family of the sanctioned man.”
He questioned why the accounts of public servants were closed noting that those affected have been experiencing hardship.
“Some of these candidates ain’t even got more than $10,000 in their accounts and they (banks) want to call it de-risk. When you use the word de-risk by itself, it is more of a risk of closing people’s account. You don’t operate like that, you got to invite these people into the banks and called them in and find out. For example, if somebody’s account is not operating and they only got $10,000 and then you see a million-dollar deposit, they still have the right to call them in and question them about source of funds,” he explained.
According to Mohamed, on Friday while he was at Bartica, “About four of them [supporters] complained that the banks called them and told them that they got to pay off the loan for their property, for their house and if they don’t pay it off then next time, they would seize the property. Also, two more of them with their vehicles, they got a loan on their vehicles.”
Mohamed also stated that he too would need a bank account to collect his salary as a parliamentarian.
“I just want an account for whatever money coming in that I can do the withdrawals so that this same money can go to different community development, and different ways I can assist communities,” he related.
The politician said it is critical that those affected by the bank account closures have access to their accounts so that they can maintain their families.
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