–President Ali flays WIN’s misinformation on reconvening of parliament
— affirms that there was no delay in reconvening parliament

PRESIDENT Irfaan Ali has strongly rejected claims that the reconvening of Parliament was delayed to facilitate an extradition process of We Invest in Nationhood candidate Azzrudin Mohamed, describing such assertions as “totally disconnected from the truth.”
In an interview with local journalist Fareeza Hanif ahead of the convening of the 13th Parliament Monday morning, President Ali maintained that all actions taken were in strict accordance with the Constitution.
“The notion that Parliament was delayed for an extradition is totally disconnected from the truth,” the President asserted.
In accordance with Article 70 (2) of the Constitution, Proclamation No.1 of 2025, President Ali had officially dissolved the 12th Parliament of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, on July 3.
Additionally, he signed a proclamation that dissolved the Regional Democratic Councils, in accordance with Article 73 (2) of the Constitution.

This placed the constitutional timeframe in November.
“Constitutionally, I had, up to this point, to reconvene Parliament, and I said from day one that I will act in accordance with the Constitution, and that led me to this date.”
President Ali stressed that the timing of Parliament’s reconvening bore no connection to the ongoing criminal proceedings involving businessman Nazar Mohamed and his son.
“This has nothing to do with the fact that a clear case of money laundering, gold smuggling, and other criminality has been made out against Mr Mohamed and that process is ongoing,” President Ali said.
The Head of State gave the reminder that evidence shared by United States authorities pointed to significant tax evasion, revealing that Guyana had been deprived of state revenue.
“I want to make it very clear; we have evidence. The U.S. has shared evidence where we the country, Guyana, was robbed of taxes, and the GRA is pursuing that matter,” he said, adding:
“We have evidence where an undervalued invoice was submitted for a vehicle. That evidence has been submitted to the GRA and the GRA is pursuing that matter, everything in accordance with law and the administrative mechanism has nothing to do with political prosecution.”
The younger Mohamed took his oath of office as a Member of Parliament (MP), Monday afternoon.
Earlier this week, extradition proceedings began against the businessman who is currently facing charges for alleged involvement in transnational crime exceeding US$50 million and links to an “international criminal enterprise.
Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman last Friday granted bail in the sum of $150,000 each to embattled businessman Azruddin and his father, Nazar Mohamed, following an extradition hearing at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
The court ordered that both men lodge their passports at the court. The duo was also ordered to report to the Ruimveldt Police Station every Friday between 13:00 and 15:00hrs, starting Friday, November 7, 2025.
During the hearing, the prosecutor strongly objected to the granting of bail, describing the two businessmen as “flight risks,” given the seriousness of the offences and the ongoing extradition request filed by the U.S. Government.
The embattled businessman arrived for the 13th parliament in this Lamborghini, which he is being charged with making a false declaration for.
Azruddin is charged under the Customs Act with knowingly making and subscribing to a false declaration to the GRA on or about December 7, 2020, by declaring the purchase price of a 2020 Lamborghini Roadster SVJ as US$75,300, while the authority contends the actual value of the vehicle was US$695,000.
NO POLITICAL PROSECUTION
According to the President, all actions taken by the government, including the cancellation of certain licences, were required under the relevant legal and administrative frameworks triggered by sanctions. “The government took all the legal and administrative steps and measures that were necessitated by the sanction,” he affirmed.
He reminded too that the government has a responsibility to co-operate with international partners on issues of criminality and to uphold the rule of law.
“The People’s Progressive Party/Civic government is a responsible government working with our international partners, and we have a duty and responsibility [to] the people of this country [and] to our international partners to work with them in pursuing issues of criminality,” President Ali said.
In March 2025, the Guyana Government received a comprehensive dossier of evidence from U.S. authorities under mutual legal assistance arrangements. The documents reportedly contained evidence of falsified customs declarations, gold-export irregularities and undeclared shipments seized in Miami.

According to the AG’s Chambers, U.S. authorities began investigating the Mohameds in the mid-2010s, with intelligence and law-enforcement co-operation between Guyana and the U.S. dating back to 2016–2017.
The alleged scheme is said to have been operated “from in or about 2017 through June 2024.”
The statement recalled that in June 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Mohameds and Mohamed’s Enterprise for alleged tax evasion, trade-based money-laundering and gold smuggling.
The Government of Guyana, the statement said, was officially informed of the U.S. investigation “through diplomatic channels following the June 2024 sanctions.”