More extradition requests likely new week – Nandlall

Nov 01, 2025 News

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(Kaieteur News) – Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC has hinted that there will be additional extradition requests for persons connected to the gold smuggling indictment brought against businessman and Leader of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party Azruddin Mohamed and his father, Nazar Mohamed by the United States.

Nandlall made the announcement during an interview aired on the National Communications Network (NCN) hours after the father and son duo appeared before a Magistrate in relation to the extradition request.

“I am told that in the course of next week, we will get some more extradition requests perhaps the Mohameds will feel a little better once that is made public and we will make that public once we receive them. The same way that we have made the Mohameds’ extradition public,” the Attorney General said.

During the broadcast, Nandlall also addressed claims that some government officials might be linked to the Mohameds case.

“The allegation, indictment and other supporting documents in the OFAC sanctions is that the Mohamed bribed government officials so I don’t understand how the Mohameds can be mystified about who the government officials are.”

He continued: “If I bribe you, I must know who you are. Why don’t they list or name the government officials whom they bribed? They are the best persons to answer that question rather than pose it for others to speculate and try to create political propaganda.”

According to the AG, the matter against the prominent businessmen will become more interesting as the weeks go by.

“The next step is for the State to disclose to the defence the paper work that was received from the United States and for them to prepare themselves for the hearing,” he said.

Nandlall sought to quell public concerns that the extradition proceedings are part of a planned vendetta by the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) government against the businessman turned politician.

He explained that the extradition process is part of a statutory measure established between the two sovereign states.

According to the AG, the request for the Mohameds’ extradition came from the highest offices of the U.S. federal government which is outside of the control or influence of the Guyana government.

“The request for extradition came in from the United State Government came in yesterday, the 30th of October under the hand of the Secretary of State of the United States Mr. Marco Rubio and under the hand of the Department of Justice. Those are the authorised agencies in the United States Government in relation to extraditions. For anyone to think that the Government of Guyana can influence such high placed authorities in the U.S. government in terms of extradition or any process you have to be of fanciful thinking,” Nandlall said.

He said that, “We don’t control the workings of the United States Government and the Mohameds fully well know it was supposed to come.  In fact, they knew it was supposed to come earlier but the American government thought they shouldn’t do it during the elections period. Then the U.S. government was met with a strike (shutdown) that affected some important agencies of the federal apparatus of the U.S. government.”

According to Nandlall, all this hullabaloo about political persecution is all part of a narrative that is constructed to be self-serving and politically expedient.

He stressed that the extradition cannot be surprising to anyone since the investigations into the matter started some 15 years ago.

“The indictments themselves speak to periods relating to transactions that begun since 2017. Long before the PPP was in government and ended some time in 2024. So, you are speaking about a transaction period of seven year. During that time two governments changed in the United States. This particular extradition process transcends different governments in both the U.S. and Guyana. The first indication of these proceeding would have been concretely realized when the OFAC sanctions were imposed.”

The Attorney General said that the sanctions against the businessmen were not imposed in isolation but as part of a process.

Additionally, the AG pointed out that the Mohameds are facing some grave allegations.

“I don’t know what political prosecution they are referring to. They have been indicted by a court of law in southern Florida in a fraud of over US$50 billion and the American government is requesting their presence in the jurisdiction of the United States of America to answer those charges where is the politics in that?”

Nandlall stressed that the Guyana government is bound under its treaty obligation and under international law to accede to requests for extradition.

“We have stated openly that we will discharge those obligations faithfully and in accordance with law and in a manner that ensures that there is due process and the recognition of the constitutional rights of any Guyanese implicated and that has been the position of any government in Guyana. That has been an international obligation of reciprocal nature that government operating in the international framework owe each other and discharge in relation as a matter of comity of nations, that’s international law, diplomacy and cooperation,” he said.

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• Anil Nandlall, Azruddin Mohamed, extradition requests, Nazar Mohamed

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