The Guyanese Government is looking to recover approximately $4 million in costs awarded by the local courts, including a sum that US-indicted businessmen Azruddin and Nazar Mohamed failed to pay by the February deadline set by the High Court.
On February 4, acting Chief Justice Navindra Singh dismissed a case filed by the Mohameds, who are challenging their extradition to the US to face charges relating to gold smuggling and money laundering allegations.
The High Court judge ordered the Mohameds to pay $500,000 in costs to each of the respondents: the Attorney-General (AG), the Minister of Home Affairs, and Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman, who is presiding over the extradition proceedings in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
However, the Mohameds are yet to make these payments, even though the February 27 deadline stipulated by the court has passed.
“The cost order made by the learned Chief Justice states that the costs should be paid by the 27th of February, 2026…[but] as of the 11th of March, we did not receive any payment,” Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, revealed during his weekly programme – Issues in the News.
The father-and-son duo approached the High Court, challenging the legality of the Authority to Proceed (ATP) issued by the Minister of home affairs, Oneidge Walrond, to activate the extradition request made by the US authorities.
Through their attorneys, Azruddin Mohamed, who currently serves as the opposition leader, and his father argued in the High Court that the Minister’s decision to authorise the extradition process was influenced by political considerations. They maintained that Azruddin Mohamed’s involvement in politics and his participation in the September 2025 General and Regional Elections created a situation where bias could be inferred.
As such, their lawyers asked the court to invalidate the Authority to Proceed issued under the Fugitive Offenders Act and to bring an end to the arrest warrant and the extradition case being heard by Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman.
However, the acting chief justice found no merit in those arguments. In his February 4 ruling, Justice Singh determined that the Minister was exercising an executive responsibility set out in law and was not acting in a judicial or quasi-judicial capacity.
The High Court ultimately dismissed the application and ordered the Mohameds to pay $500,000 in costs to the three respondents by February 27. Over a week after that deadline had passed, AG Nandlall wrote to one of the lawyers representing the Mohameds, Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde, on March 11 about the non-payment.
“As per the order of the court, I requested payment to be made forthwith. We have not received a response… I stated in the letter that if payment is not received, the necessary steps will be taken to enforce the order. So, steps will soon be taken to enforce the order of Chief Justice Singh in the sum of at least $1 million for the AG and Minister of Home Affairs. The Magistrate has her own lawyer, and that’s another $500,000,” Nandlall posited.
The AG made these revelations as yet another court – the Appeal Court of Guyana – has awarded costs to be paid after the Mohameds lost another legal battle in their efforts to fight off the extradition.
The father-and-son duo approached the Court of Appeal to overturn the February 4 High Court ruling. But the Appeal Court on Tuesday unanimously dismissed the application by the Mohameds.
In its ruling, the court found that the appeal lacked merit, holding that the Mohameds failed to prove any bias on the part of the Minister of Home Affairs in issuing the Authority to Proceed. The Appeal Court further ordered the Mohameds to pay a total of $3 million in costs, with $1.5 million awarded to Minister Walrond and $1.5 million to the AG.
According to AG Nandlall, he will also be writing to the Mohameds’ lawyers to get this second set of court costs. “That’s $3 million in costs, which, of course, we intend to pursue and receive payment of… A letter will be dispatched [today] for the payment of $3 million in costs awarded by the Court of Appeal,” the Attorney General stated during his programme on Tuesday evening.
In the indictments filed in October 2025 at a federal court in Florida against Nazar Mohamed, 72, and Azruddin Mohamed, 39, American prosecutors alleged that the two men were involved in a long-running operation involving the export of gold in a manner designed to avoid paying taxes and royalties owed to the Government of Guyana.
Prosecutors allege that from 2017 to 2024, official Government seals taken from a single legitimate gold shipment were reused to validate several additional shipments. United States authorities estimate that the alleged scheme resulted in approximately US$50 million in lost revenue for the Guyanese state.
Nazar Mohamed is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and mail fraud. Azruddin Mohamed faces charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud and is also accused of avoiding more than US$1 million in taxes linked to the importation of a Lamborghini from Miami to Guyana.
The extradition proceedings against the father-and-son duo, who were also sanctioned by the US Government in June 2024, are ongoing in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, with the next hearing set for March 24.