Prosecution fails to convince court to order second dengue test on Azruddin Mohamed

Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 March 2026, 22:43 by Writer

The prosecution for the United States in the extradition commital hearing on Tuesday failed to convince Principal Magistrate, Judy Latchman to order a second dengue blood test on Azruddin Mohamed who has been diagnosed with the mosquito-borne disease and cannot attend court in person or virtually.

After hearing about a number of “red flags” by Prosecutor Attorney-at-Law Glen Hanoman, the magistrate adjourned the proceedings to April 7 to 10 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

“There are some very troubling things we’ve noticed,” Mr Hanoman said.

The United States has requested the extradition of Azruddin Mohamed, who is also Guyana’s Opposition Leader, and his father Nazar “Shell” Mohamed to face trial in a Florida federal court for alleged wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering through their gold trading business.

In response to several questions by the prosecution, the magistrate then asked Dr Kawal Dalip to say why Mohamed would be unable to attend court by Zoom.

In response, the doctor said the doxycyline drug would cause drowsiness. He said the patient was also being treated with panadol and cough syrup.

After Mr Hanoman said he was advised that sick leave for dengue was usually three to five days and that raised the question about why Mr Mohamed needed 12 days, Dr Dalip said the usual 14 days’ rest is required.

He said he would check Mr Mohamed’s condition in another 10 days.

He said Mr Mohamed could not be better to attend court before.

Prosecutor Hanoman also raised concerns that Mr Mohamed was diagnosed with dengue at 11:30 a.m. while the laboratory report states that the blood work samples were submitted at 11:50 am.

In response, the doctor said he diagnosed Mr Mohamed clinically before the lab test.

Mr Hanoman, an experienced criminal lawyer, also raised concerns that the blood test was done at Dr Dalip’s laboratory and said he was advised that the methodology used was not the “gold standard”.

He sought to make out a case for a second test to be done at another site using the gold standard of PCR, but Defence Lawyer Roysdale Forde ruled that out completely.

“He will not do that,” Mr Forde told the court, adding that Dr Dalip’s lab was certified by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards.

“It is not for Azruddin Mohamed to submit to any test,” even as he declared that the existing test was adequate and the report was verified.

Mr Forde also said there were “multiple ways” to test for dengue.

The prominent criminal and civil lawyer said Mr Hanoman had no medical experience in any field.

Mr Hanoman then countered: “The refusal to submit says it all.”

In response to the prosecutor’s suspicion that the lab results were originally those of someone else and that included Mr Mohamed having been tested positive for sickle cell anaemia, the doctor said that was a “false positive”.

Mr Hanoman said he wanted the laboratory to produce any video recording proving that Mr Mohamed had visited Dr Dalip’s clinic.

He added that he was also making efforts to obtain video evidence from nearby cameras to verify whether the businessman had visited that doctor.

The prosecutor said he was interested in questioning Mr Joel Semple who had taken the blood samples from Mr Mohamed.

Dr Dalip also denied several assertions including that he is an obstetrician or a gynaecologist, despite Mr Hanoman saying he was in possession of a Guyana Medical Council registration to the contrary.

Mr Forde rubbished Mr Hanoman’s assertion of “red flags”.

“All that has been cited as red flags are not red flags. Dr Dalip is an experienced member of the medical profession. Why he is being humiliated like this? Nonsense!” the lawyer said.