McCoy rubbishes WIN assertions of holding Govt accountable

– says as a fugitive, WIN leader has no integrity or credibility to be LOO

Emphasising that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration continues to govern strictly within the framework of the law and in full compliance with the Constitution, Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister (PM) Kwame McCoy, has ridiculed assertions by United States (US)-indicted businessman-turned-Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed that he intends to hold the Government accountable for its actions. Mohamed, who is wanted by the US for fraud and money laundering has said that as the country’s Opposition Leader, he will work to hold the current administration accountable. But McCoy has scoffed at the hypocrisy of this declaration, pointing out that not only is Mohamed an international fugitive offender but had been charged locally for billions of dollars in tax evasion. “It is a most awkward, out-of-place belief that you can hold this Government accountable as an international fugitive offender. It’s out of place,” the Minister contended on Sunday during an episode of the Starting Point podcast.
“For you to be able to hold a Government accountable, first of all, you have to have good moral standing. You have to ensure that you have the capability of making decisions based on what is considered to be right and morally right and also a character that is in line with morality,” he further expressed. Mohamed and his father, Nazar Mohamed, have been indicted by a grand jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on 11 criminal charges ranging from wire fraud and mail fraud to money laundering, primarily connected to the export of gold to the US by their company, Mohamed’s Enterprises. The father-and-son duo is currently facing extradition to the US to face these charges. Mohamed’s We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political party, which was launched just months before the 2025 elections, gained 16 seats in the National Assembly. He was subsequently elected as Opposition Leader. Apart from the charges instituted in the US, the Mohameds had been charged locally for billions of dollars in tax evasion but these were discontinued to facilitate the extradition request, in keeping with the Extradition Treaty. In this regard, McCoy contended that “and you yourself, you’re holding the Government accountable to the rules and to the laws that you are evading, evading the law and trying to dodge being accountable for serious transnational crimes… if you think about all of the taxes that have been evaded by this one individual alone, we could add another perhaps 30,000, 10,000 homes. We can build with those taxes alone 10,000 homes and do many other things for the people of this country.” According to the Minister, Mohamed has no integrity and credibility for the role of Opposition Leader. The position, he said, “requires people who have a record of some decency and who have not been part of smuggling gold in any part of the world and evading taxes.” “Holding a Government accountable, at least for God’s sake, you must have some bit of integrity and credibility,” McCoy argued, adding that the other members of WIN are “totally incapable of being anything that resembles a serious opposition”.