Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, S.C., on Thursday lashed out at United States-sanctioned Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed after he and his supporters turned up at the Attorney General’s Chambers with wheelbarrows of notes and coins to settle court-ordered costs.
In a Facebook livestream, Nandlall described the move as a failed stunt aimed at ridiculing the justice system, warning that part of the payment, particularly the coins, could not lawfully be accepted to settle the debt.
According to Nandlall, the unusual scene unfolded while he was attending an important meeting with Guyana’s National Coordinating Committee on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML-CFT).
He said he was informed that Mohamed, along with Member of Parliament Odessa Primus and Hana Mohamed, arrived at the Chambers with two wheelbarrows containing money, which they claimed was intended to pay $1 million in costs owed to him and Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond.
The costs stem from a February 4 ruling by Acting Chief Justice Navindra Singh, who dismissed a legal challenge filed by the Mohameds and ordered that $500,000 each be paid to Nandlall, Walrond, and Acting Chief Magistrate Judy Latchman.
Nandlall said those sums were due by February 27, but no payment was received by that deadline. He later wrote to Mohameds’ attorney, Roysdale Forde, requesting payment of the $1 million owed to himself and Walrond, but said he received no response and had already begun preparing enforcement proceedings.
Instead, he said, Mohamed arrived with one wheelbarrow filled with small denomination bills and another containing a large quantity of coins. The Attorney General argued that while the gesture may have been intended as political theatre, it ran afoul of the law governing legal tender in Guyana.
He cited the legal limits on the use of coins to settle debts, noting that $1 coins can be used up to $100, $5 coins up to $250, and $10 coins up to $500.
“Unfortunately for Mr. Mohamed, he will have to return the barrow of coins that he has brought,” Nandlall said.
“So this little circus and this little attempt at ridicule have really backfired against him.”
Beyond the issue of payment, Nandlall accused Mohamed of disrespecting the judiciary and undermining the rule of law by attempting to make a spectacle of a court order.
He stressed that court orders must be obeyed unless and until they are overturned by a court of competent jurisdiction.
“The persons who are obliged by those orders must obey them whether they accept the orders, whether they believe the orders are wrong, or whether they believe the orders should be set aside,” he said.
Nandlall said the conduct of the Opposition Leader reflected poorly on the office he holds, arguing that someone in such a position should set an example rather than seek to mock the administration of justice.
He went further, describing Mohamed as “a child in a big man’s body” and questioning his fitness for high office.
According to Nandlall, the issue goes beyond politics and strikes at the heart of the legal system, which he said remains the institution all citizens must rely on for the resolution of disputes and the protection of their rights.
He warned that those who continue to disrespect court orders and the rule of law would eventually be held accountable.
“The arms of the law are long. The processes may be slow. But one thing I can promise you, the law will be applied,” Nandlall declared.
He ended by cautioning that anyone who chooses to mock the judiciary and disregard judges’ orders does so “at their own peril.”
