High Court hears request for stay of Mohameds’ extradition proceedings pending decision

Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 December 2025, 20:13 by Writer

The High Court on Tuesday heard an application by businessmen Azruddin Mohamed and his father Nazar “Shell” Mohamed for an order to temporarily halt an extradition hearing in the magistrates’ court pending the outcome of a constitutional challenge to the Fugitive Offenders Act.

The Mohameds’ lawyer, Siand Dhurjon, confirmed that the legal team presented oral arguments on Tuesday morning before Chief Justice Navindra Singh and Attorney General Anil Nandlall delivered his arguments in the afternoon.

Justice Singh is scheduled to deliver his decision on Monday, January 5 on whether the extradition hearing should proceed on January 6 and 8, 2026 as had been scheduled by Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman.

In an affidavit, filed on December 29, in answer to the notice of application for the High Court to hear the challenge to the Fugitive Offenders Act, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sharon Roopchand-Edwards said “these proceedings are an abuse of the process, as the Fugitive Offenders Act provides an adequate regime of due process to which the applicants are entitled. if aggrieved by the ultimate decision of the Learned Magistrate” and “public interest and the legislative intent dictate that extradition proceedings be concluded with due expedition.”

The Mohameds’ challenge to the Fugitive Offenders Act followed a decision not to transfer those of similar grounds to the High Court on the grounds that they were ‘frivolous and vexatious’.

She then set January 6 and 8 for a hearing on whether the Mohameds should be extradited to the United States to face trial on alleged mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering and related evasion of taxes payable to the Guyana government for gold exports and the purchase of a Lamborghini luxury car.

The Mohameds hope that the High Court would order that provisions of the amended Fugitive Offenders Act are unconstitutional, unlawful and void.

In particular, the High Court is being asked to order that Sections 8 (3) A (a), 8 (3) A (b), 8 (3) B (a), 8 (3) B (b) and 8 (3) B (c) individually and collectively breach the principles of the separation of powers doctrine and the rule of law.

Further, through their lawyer Roysdale Forde, they say those provisions of the Fugitive Offenders (Amendment) Act No. 30 of 2009 infringe the constitutional principles that regulate the independence of the judiciary pursuant to Article 122A of the Constitution of Guyana, the Mohameds’ rights to liberty as guaranteed by Article 139 of the Constitution of Guyana, due process of law as guaranteed by Article 139 of Guyana’s Constitution and that the courts are not to rely upon those amending provisions when dealing with the applicants’ extradition.

Mr Azruddin Mohamed, who is the leader of the main opposition We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), and his father have filed separate proceedings challenging Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond’s issuance of an authority to proceed (ATP) with hearing the extradition request.

She, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, President Irfaan Ali and the Attorney General are being cited for targeting the Mohameds out of political malice based on statements they have allegedly uttered over the past several months.