…clears path for committal hearing to resume in Magistrate’s Court
…says no bias by Home Affairs Minister in issuing ATP
United States-sanctioned and indicted Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and his father, Nazar Mohamed, have lost their latest bid to fight off their extradition to the US to face an 11-count criminal indictment after the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on Wednesday dismissed an appeal filed by them.
Back in March, the Mohameds approached the CCJ, seeking special leave to appeal the decisions of the High Court and Appeal Court of Guyana – both of which had previously dismissed legal proceedings to halt their extradition to the US, where they are indicted on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
The appeal sought to challenge aspects of the extradition process initiated against the father and son. The CCJ had decided to hear the application for special leave and the substantive appeal at the same time during the April 21 session.
During that hearing, the Mohameds had told the CCJ that they are not opposed to the extradition itself, but are asking the court to overturn the “Authority to Proceed” (ATP) issued under Guyana’s Fugitive Offenders Act by Home Affairs Minister Oneidge Walrond, arguing that the Minister’s decision was legally flawed and politically biased.
The defence had noted that the speed at which the ATP was issued, shortly after the request was received, created an appearance of predetermined approval and raised questions about fairness at the earliest stage of the process.
But Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes, representing Guyana’s Government, defended the issuance of the ATP, contending that the Minister’s role at this stage is administrative and not adjudicative. He rejected the suggestion that the timing of the decision indicated bias, stating instead that any delay could have equally been criticised as a failure to act.
No bias
In a ruling delivered virtually on Wednesday, the CCJ unanimously decided to dismiss the appeal being sought by the Mohameds.
In the lead judgement delivered on behalf of himself and CCJ President Justice Winston Anderson, Justice Denys Barrow ruled that the Minister’s decision to issue the ATP was in fact merely an administrative step to initiate the extradition process and does not determine guilt or the extradition itself. They further found that the applicants had failed to establish that the issuance of the ATP was tainted by bias.
“There was no requirement for the Minister issuing the ATP to be free from political bias. What was required was for the Minister to engage in a process that allowed for consideration of the factors contemplated by the Act. Their Honours found that the applicants had not challenged the process that led to the issuance of the ATP, save for the allegation that the Minister was politically biased… While the Attorney General, as Chief Legal Advisor to the Government, must necessarily be circumspect in any comment on extradition requests, upon which his advice may be sought, the decision to issue the ATP was statutorily vested in and was, as a matter of fact, exercised by the Minister, with very minimal advice from the Attorney General,” the court ruled.
In separate opinions, however, Justices Maureen Rajnauth-Lee, Peter Jamadar, and Arif Bulkan, though agreeing that the case should be dismissed, found that there was a possibility of bias displayed by the Attorney General. But the Judges ruled that this did not influence the Home Affairs Minister’s decision.
The CCJ Judges “…concluded that there is no appearance of bias established against the Minister as the decision-maker or by reason of the larger ecosystem in which the Minister operated. However, in relation to the Attorney General, they concluded that there was a real possibility that the Attorney General was biased. Despite this, they were of the view that the Attorney General’s apparent bias had not so contaminated the process as to raise a real possibility that the decision of the Minister to issue the ATP was initiated by bias.”
No “clean hands”
But even as the regional court found some biasness on the part of other senior Government officials and underscored the importance of judicial independence while cautioning against public comments by public officials on pending judicial proceedings, it noted, however, that the appellants, particularly Azruddin Mohamed, was not without fault or with “clean hands”.
Justices Chantal Ononaiwu and Chile Eboe-Osuji, in their separate opinions, also agreed that the appeal should be dismissed, stressing that allegations of bias must be assessed from the perspective of a fair-minded and informed observer who considers all the surrounding circumstances.
“On the facts and circumstances of the present case, the second appellant [Azruddin Mohamed] does not have clean hands. He provoked verbal attacks against him by his own early attacks against Government officials or his own willing participation in a general brawl of political calumny,” the Judges ruled.
Committal hearing
The interim stay of the extradition proceedings that was imposed by the court back in March was lifted. This now paved the way for the committal proceedings in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to resume before Chief Magistrate Judy Latchman.
Prior to the CCJ stay, the extradition proceedings had already faced extensive delays due to constitutional and legal challenges, health claims and lateness from parties involved. In fact, the last hearing on March 24 had to be adjourned after Azruddin Mohamed did not show up and the Magistrate’s court was told that he had suffered from dengue. His diagnosis and laboratory results were submitted to the court, and his doctor was called to give evidence on his condition.
Back in October 2025, the US Government had requested the extradition of the Mohameds to face charges regarding the alleged smuggling of more than 10,000 kilograms of gold through the United States and evading over US$50 million in taxes.
The father-and-son duo have been out on $150,000 bail each, pending the outcome of the extradition committal proceedings.
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