Azruddin Mohamed, the Opposition Leader of Guyana, and his father, Nazar Mohamed, have experienced a significant legal setback in their attempts to block extradition to the United States to face charges of fraud and money laundering.
The Mohameds, both businessmen, had filed two challenges in the High Court. One application targeted sections of Guyana’s Fugitive Offenders Act, while the other sought to quash the decision made by the Minister of Home Affairs that initiated the extradition proceedings against them.
Chief Justice (acting) Navindra Singh initially planned to deliver his rulings on February 2, but postponed the decision to February 9. However, with a substantive case set before the Magistrates’ Courts on February 5 and 6, the Chief Justice issued a ruling regarding the Minister’s authority to proceed with the extradition.
The application was dismissed, with Chief Justice Singh siding with arguments presented by Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who contended that claims of presumed bias in the extradition process were baseless. Nandlall remarked that it would be absurd for individuals to leverage political opposition as a means to escape extradition by claiming bias from the government.
As a result of the ruling, the Mohameds were ordered to pay $500,000 each to the three respondents, which include Attorney General Nandlall, Home Affairs Minister Oneidge Walrond, and Magistrate Judy Latchman, who is overseeing the extradition proceedings.
In related developments, a ruling on the second High Court matter is scheduled for February 16.
The extradition of the Mohameds is being pursued under the Guyana-United Kingdom extradition treaty, which remains in effect due to Section 4(1)(a) of the Fugitive Offenders Act, as amended. The U.S. government formally submitted the extradition request on October 30, 2025.
The Mohameds faced sanctions from the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on June 11, 2024, for large-scale corruption linked to activities including gold smuggling and money laundering, resulting in an evasion of over $50 million in taxes owed to the Guyanese government.
Both Azruddin and Nazar Mohamed have been indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on 11 criminal charges, which encompass wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering related to the exportation of gold by their company, Mohamed’s Enterprises. If convicted, many of these charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and potential fines of up to $250,000, while the money laundering charge could result in fines of $500,000 or the value of the laundered property.
