October 31, 2025
...
Nazar Mohamed and Azruddin Mohamed were arrested this morning by members of the Guyana Police Force duly authorized to do so by a warrant issued by a Magistrate of the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
...
On the 30th October, 2025, the Government of Guyana received a request from the Government of the United States of America to extradite the two Mohameds pursuant to an extradition treaty between United States of America and the United Kingdom which extends to and remain in force in Guyana under the provisions of Section 4(1)(a) of the Fugitives Offender Act, Cap. 10:04 as amended by Act No. 10 of 2024.
...
The arrest warrant was issued after a team of lawyers led by Terrence Willaims, KC, Herbert McKenzie and Celine Deidrick, Attorneys-at-Law presented to the Magistrate an Authority to Proceed from the Government of Guyana accompanied by an Application for an Arrest Warrant as is mandated under the provision of the Act.
...
The Mohameds are the subject of an indictment unsealed on October 6, 2025, by a United States Grand Jury sitting in the Southern District of Florida, which charges them with multiple offences including wire fraud, mail fraud, money-laundering, conspiracy, aiding and abetting and customs-related violations connected to an alleged US $50 million gold export and tax evasion scheme.
...
The two Mohameds will now be processed in accordance with the extradition framework set out in the provisions of the Fugitive Offenders Act, as amended, in due compliance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution of Guyana and all other relevant laws.
# CCJ
...
Extradition Case
...
29, 2026
...
The Caribbean Court of Justice has sharply criticised statements made by senior Guyana Government officials during the extradition proceedings involving Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and his father, Nazar Mohamed, warning that some of the comments threatened the presumption of innocence, judicial independence and the proper administration of justice.
...
Although the CCJ dismissed the Mohameds’ substantive appeal and lifted the stay on the extradition proceedings, its 256-page judgment, delivered on July 29, 2026, contained several serious criticisms and concerns about the conduct of the Attorney General, Vice-President and President.
...
The case challenged the Authority to Proceed issued by Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond following an extradition request from the United States. The Mohameds argued that the decision was affected by actual or apparent bias because of a sustained campaign of hostile public statements by senior members of the PPP/C Government.
...
The CCJ did not find sufficient evidence that Minister Walrond was personally biased or that the Authority to Proceed was legally contaminated. However, the judges rejected the view that bias was irrelevant merely because the issuance of the authority was an executive or administrative act.
...
paragraph 104
...
President Winston Anderson and
...
said Attorney General
...
Nandlall
...
as the Government
...
s principal legal adviser, was required to conduct himself with circums
...
Justice Chantal Ononaiwu and Justice Chile Eboe-Osuji also criticised the Attorney General’s description of Azruddin Mohamed as “a criminal already”.
...
concluded that branding an unconvicted
...
request as “a criminal already” could not be considered
...
The Court expressed particular concern about statements directed at the magistrate conducting the extradition proceedings.
...
The judgment examined statements attributed to Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo suggesting that officials might be “compromised” and that the Government was “watching” persons who failed to perform their duties. These remarks followed criticism of the magistrate’s decision to grant the Mohameds bail in the sum of GYD$150,000.
...
Justice Eboe
...
ji said judicial independence is weakened when senior members of the Executive engage in conduct capable of undermining a judicial officer or placing political pressure on that officer to conduct or decide a case in a manner pleasing to the Government.
...
Three judges issued an even stronger condemnation at paragraphs 341 and 342. Justices Rajnauth-Lee, Jamadar and Bulkan said statements by the Vice-President and Attorney General could undermine judicial independence and have harmful effects on the administration of justice.
...
They described judicial independence as “sacrosanct” and declared that conduct reasonably capable of undermining it “is to be denounced”.
...
also rejected the suggestion that the
...
were unusually slow or should have been completed within two or three days.
...
The judgment recorded statements attributed to President Irfaan Ali describing Azruddin Mohamed as a “gangster” and a “crook and criminal of no mean order”. It also recorded the Vice-President describing Mohamed as “a criminal”.
...
also examined the unexplained
...
delay in convening Parliament after the September
...
2025 election,
...
approval of the extradition request shortly before Parliament eventually convened and the additional
...
delay in electing Mohamed as Leader of the Opposition.
...
The CCJ granted the Mohameds special leave to appeal but dismissed the substantive appeal. It ordered that each side bear its own costs before the Court.
...
The ruling means the extradition committal proceedings may continue. It does not constitute an order extraditing the Mohameds or a finding that either man is guilty of the offences alleged by the United States.
Appeal Court unanimously rejects Mohameds’ judicial review challenge in extradition case - News Room Guyana
...
The Guyana Court of Appeal on Tuesday unanimously dismissed the judicial review appeal brought by businessmen Azruddin and Nazar Mohamed, ruling that their challenge to the Authority to Proceed (ATP) in the United States extradition case had “absolutely no merit.”
...
In a ruling delivered by Acting Chancellor Roxane George, the appellate court upheld the earlier decision of Acting Chief Justice Navindra Singh, who on February 4 dismissed the Mohameds’ High Court application seeking to quash the ATP issued by Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond.
...
The ruling clears the way for the extradition proceedings now continuing before Magistrate Latchman.
...
The Mohammeds had argued that Walrond was disqualified from issuing the ATP because of alleged political bias, contending that Azruddin Mohamed’s status as an opposition political figure and statements made during the 2025 election campaign created apparent or presumed bias. They also argued that the Attorney General’s legal advice to the minister was similarly tainted.
...
The court also declined to grant any stay of the ongoing extradition proceedings, noting that any such request would be more appropriately directed to the Caribbean Court of Justice if the Mohammeds decide to pursue a further appeal.
...
The appeal arose from the ATP issued by Walrond on October 30, 2025, after the United States submitted a request dated October 28, 2025 for Azruddin and Nazar Mohamed to be extradited to stand trial on federal indictments there.
...
Following the ATP, warrants were issued and the two men were arrested, later appearing before Magistrate Latchman and obtaining bail pending the extradition proceedings.
...
The ruling came after an expedited appeal hearing last week, during which Trinidadian Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes, appearing for the State, argued that the extradition process could not be stopped simply because Azruddin Mohamed had since entered politics and become an opposition figure.
...
Meanwhile, the substantive committal hearing in
...
before Magistrate Latchman on Tuesday and is expected to resume on Wednesday as the case moves toward completion.