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Mohameds appeal High Court ruling in desperate bid to stay extradition proceedings
(Kaieteur News) – Defence lawyers for father and son, Nazar and Azruddin Mohamed, on Monday filed an appeal to the Full Court against Acting Chief Justice Navindra Singh’s ruling, which rejected their request to stay the extradition proceedings that are ongoing in the Magistrates’ Court.
The lawyers, Roysdale Forde, SC, Damien Da Silva and Siand Dhurjon informed Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman of the filing on Tuesday morning during the start of the extradition proceedings.
Father and Son Nazar (right) and Azruddin Mohamed
On Monday, Justice Singh denied a request made by the attorneys for the United States (U.S.) indicted businessmen for a stay of the extradition proceedings at the magistracy level until the constitutional issues raised by the defence are fully heard in the High Court. This decision cleared the way for the committal proceedings in the extradition case to move forward.
In December, the father and son duo had asked the court to stall the extradition case in the magistrates’ court until the constitutional matter regarding the 2009 amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Act is heard in full.
However, when the ruling was handed down, defence attorney Roysdale Forde expressed disappointment with the ruling and confirmed that the defence intends to appeal Justice Singh’s decision at the Full Court.
The request was also rejected by Magistrate Latchman who emphasised that the core issues raised by the defence regarding the 2009 amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Act had already been considered by higher courts and did not require further review.
During court proceedings on Tuesday, defence lawyer Forde informed the court that a notice of appeal had been filed with the Full Court. He explained that the appeal challenges Justice Singh’s ruling and also seeks a stay of the extradition proceedings pending the Full Court’s determination.
“Yesterday, (Monday) we filed an appeal to the full court and we filed a concomitant application for the state which we expect to be heard soon. So that is pending and that is a continuation in the march towards the ultimate arbiter, which we believe, is the CCJ to decide these issues,” he said.
Additionally, Forde stated that the defence had also filed a judicial review application, claiming bias against the government, specifically the Minister of Home Affairs who authorise the proceedings. That matter will be heard on January 14.
He explained, “That is a very important application, because we are challenging, in that application, the authority of the Minister to issue an authority to proceed. We would competently be challenging the arrest and all the related proceedings. We would also be raising, for the first time, a number of arguments we really would have raised on the first occasion in order to get bail, where we highlighted that the fact that Mr. Mohamed is a politician.”
He added, “We would have highlighted in that application, the bias, the animosity to the point of hatred, it would have been displayed by the Attorney General, would have been displayed by the Vice President, and the President and the Cabinet as a whole, of which Miss Walrond is an essential member of. We believe that we would have documented in those affidavits the fact that she is biased, and by extension, she should not all be in position to issue an authority to proceed.”
However, the prosecution maintained that this appeal is another delay tactic by the defence to prevent the extradition proceedings from proceeding. The prosecution argued that the defence has sufficient room to raise issues within the extradition proceedings.
The defence had again asked the court to stay the proceedings at the magistrates’ court as there are pending matters before the high court which seeks clarity on the extradition proceedings. However, the magistrate ruled the said day that she will not have the matter stayed stating, “there is no stay granted in this matter and the matter will proceed at the magistrates’ court.”
The Mohameds have been indicted in a federal court in Miami, Florida on several charges. The 25-page indictment, unsealed on October 2, 2025, accuses the Mohameds of orchestrating an elaborate fraud and money-laundering scheme involving gold exports, customs fraud, bribery, and the evasion of millions in taxes and royalties owed to Guyana.
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