UNITED States-indicted businessman Azruddin Mohamed and his father, Nazar Mohamed, have moved to the Court of Appeal seeking an urgent stay of ongoing extradition proceedings, arguing that their pending substantive appeal should be determined before any further committal steps are taken.
According to the Notice of Motion filed in the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Judicature, the applicants are requesting “a stay of the proceedings for the extradition… until the determination of the substative appeal filed herein”.
The application names the Minister of Home Affairs, the Attorney-General, and Magistrate Judy Latchman as respondents. It also asks the Court of Appeal to hear the substantive appeal urgently, and, if deemed appropriate, treat the hearing of the motion as the hearing of the appeal itself.
On February 4, Chief Justice (ag) Navindra Singh, at the High Court, dismissed the legal challenge brought by the applicants, who accused the Minister of Home Affairs and the Government of Guyana of bias in the extradition proceedings.
The Court found no substance in the claim that political rivalry had tainted the decision to issue an authority to proceed under the Fugitive Offenders Act.
The Mohameds had mounted a two-pronged legal challenge in the High Court, alleging bias and invalidity of the authority to proceed.
In the matter, the father-and-son duo asked the court to determine that the Minister of Home Affairs, the President, the Attorney General, the Vice-President, the President and the government as a whole were biased against Azruddin Mohamed because of his role as a political competitor in the September 2025 elections.
On that basis, they argued that the authority to proceed with the extradition process was tainted and unlawful, including the arrest warrant and the ongoing extradition proceedings before Principal Magistrate Latchman in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, which they contended should be quashed.
In the substantive matter, the Mohameds are challenging the constitutionality of parts of the Fugitive Offenders Act, particularly amendments made in 2009.
That case remains before the court, with a ruling expected around February 16.
During the hearing of the bias case, lawyers for the State, including Attorney-General Anil Nandlall, SC, and Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes argued that bias does not arise in relation to the Minister of Home Affairs, because the minister is performing an executive function, not a judicial or quasi-judicial function, when issuing an authority to proceed.
Nandlall had reminded the court that the younger Mohamed entered politics after the extradition process had already begun, and after sanctions had already been imposed.
Accepting political bias as a defence, he argued, would allow anyone facing extradition to simply enter politics and then claim to be targeted for political reasons. The State also relied on case law from across the Caribbean, the Commonwealth and England.
According to the Attorney General, the court accepted these arguments. In its final decision, the Chief Justice dismissed the Mohameds’ claim that the Minister of Home Affairs and the government were biased, finding that the minister acted as an executive officer carrying out a duty assigned by Parliament under the Fugitive Offenders Act.
The court also awarded $500,000 in costs to each respondent—the Attorney General, the Minister of Home Affairs and Principal Magistrate Latchman.
Extradition proceedings in the magistrates’ court are set to continue on February 16. In that case also, the Mohameds’ had made several attempts to stall same.
SANCTIONS AND INDICTMENT
In October last year, a federal grand jury in Miami returned an indictment charging the father and son with participating in a multi-year scheme to evade millions of dollars in taxes and royalties owed to the Government of Guyana through fraudulent gold export practices and related money laundering activities.
According to court documents, Nazar, 72, and Azruddin, 38, were owners of Mohamed’s Enterprise, a gold wholesaler and exporter in Guyana that sold gold to buyers in Miami and Dubai.
Guyanese authorities impose approximately a seven percent tax and duty on exported gold. From about 2017 through at least 2024, the pair allegedly enriched themselves and defrauded the Government of Guyana by concealing the true quantity and value of gold exported by their company.
The indictment alleges that Mohamed’s Enterprise paid taxes and royalties on one shipment of gold to obtain official government seals, then reused those same seals on subsequent shipments to avoid paying additional taxes and royalties. Prosecutors further allege that empty boxes bearing Guyanese government seals were shipped from Dubai through Miami to Guyana, and that bribes were paid to customs and other officials to facilitate the scheme.
In total, the pair allegedly exported at least 10,000 kilogrammes of gold through Miami, resulting in an estimated loss of approximately US$50 million to the Government of Guyana.
Nazar is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and mail fraud.
Azruddin is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud. The indictment also alleges that Azruddin Mohamed engaged in a separate scheme to evade more than US$1 million in Guyanese taxes in connection with the shipment of a Lamborghini from Miami to Guyana.
The indictment seeks forfeiture of approximately US$5.3 million in gold bars seized at Miami International Airport on June 11, 2024. Both men were sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in June 2024.
