Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC, has accused the defence team for businessmen Nazar Mohamed and his son, Azruddin Mohamed, of pursuing a calculated strategy to delay committal proceedings in the extradition case brought by the United States Government.
Nandlall’s comments came hours after Acting Chief Justice Navindra Singh dismissed the Mohameds’ application to stay the committal proceedings while they challenge the constitutionality of provisions in the Fugitive Offenders (Amendment) Act 2009.
Speaking on the ruling and the defence’s stated intention to appeal, Nandlall said Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde’s public comments signalled that the litigation was being driven more by tactics than by the “merits of the law.”
“Mr. Forde said to the press that his clients plan to appeal… Again, I see that these are attempts at delaying the hearing and determination of the committal proceedings,” Nandlall said, adding that the move was “part and parcel of a plan” to protract the matter.
Nandlall stressed that even the defence has acknowledged that filing an appeal does not automatically halt proceedings in the Magistrate’s Courts.
“Mr. Forde himself admitted… that the appeal itself does not operate as a stay,” the Attorney General noted, arguing that the expectation that Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman would pause the hearing simply because an appeal is filed would have no legal basis.
He said the defence had already sought a stay when they mounted the constitutional challenge, and that application was refused. As a result, he argued, “the mere filing of an appeal can’t bar the magistrate from proceeding.”
“The magistrate should proceed unless a superior court injuncts her or prohibits her from so proceeding,” Nandlall added, noting that no such restraining order had been filed or announced.
He said lawyers representing the US Government are expected to address the issue of whether the proceedings should continue when the matter returns before the magistrate.
Nandlall also pointed to the fact that both the Magistrates’ Courts and the High Court have rejected key defence contentions at the interlocutory stage.
He noted that Magistrate Latchman previously ruled that the constitutional questions raised were “frivolous and vexatious,” and said the Acting Chief Justice’s decision effectively mirrored that conclusion.
“If the magistrate has already ruled that they are frivolous and vexatious, now the Chief Justice has ruled similarly… we are going around in a circle, and there is a classic case of abuse of process,” the Attorney General said.
Nandlall questioned why the 2009 amendments are now being challenged, arguing that the legislation has long been applied in Guyana’s extradition framework.
He said the law was enacted in 2009 and has been relied on in numerous matters since, adding that as recently as 2018, a High Court judge, now sitting in the Court of Appeal, considered similar challenges and dismissed them.
“If that is the state of the law, that is the law that must be applied, and every judicial officer has a duty to apply that law until it is changed or until a court pronounces otherwise,” he said.
Nandlall maintained that the statutory process has an established sequence and that the defence is attempting to invert it.
“They want to upturn the whole procedure, put what is at the end at the beginning to suit their clients. The law is not going to be turned upside down for one litigant or two litigants,” he said.
The Mohameds are fighting extradition to the United States, where they face serious federal charges, including money laundering. The case stems from a formal request by the US Government under the 1931 Extradition Treaty between the United States and Great Britain.
Police arrested Nazar and Azruddin on October 31, 2025. They were later brought before Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman under Section 15 of the Fugitive Offenders Act and granted $150,000 bail each pending committal.
They have surrendered their passports and are required to report weekly to the Ruimveldt Police Station.
