Attorney General, Senior Counsel Anil Nandlall, this afternoon said the CCJ’s orders that were handed down this morning as it prepares to hear the Appeals by the Mohameds in the extradition matter, did not come as a surprise.

Although the State opposed both Applications by the Mohameds, who were seeking special leave to appeal the lower Courts’ decisions and a stay of extradition proceedings, Mr. Nandlall said the final Court would usually give initial orders and directions to maintain the status quo in the interest of fairness to all parties.

“So, to preserve the status-quo, to preserve the integrity of the proceedings that are pending before the court, a final court would normally preserve the status-quo while the appeals are being heard and that is precisely what the CCJ did. They did as we expected it to do, to preserve the status quo,” the Attorney General said this afternoon.

The Attorney General said a significant point in the Case Management Conference today was the reiteration by the Justices of the CCJ of the need to have the case speedily addressed.

He said he hopes that such urgency would be transferred to the Magistrates’ Court in dealing with the matter.

For Mr. Nandlall, a major plank of the challenge would be disposed on April 21 when the CCJ reopens the case to hear the appeals.

“Significantly, the court emphasized a couple of things, that there is a public interest that the court must take into account for all its decision making and secondly that the court is dealing with the extradition proceedings which is a peculiar type of proceedings and thirdly that extradition proceedings must be treated with dispatch, now those are importance pronouncements,” Mr. Nandlall said.

Mr. Nandlall stated that the appeals by the Mohameds are bound to fall flat, noting that the arguments they have advanced and will advance have no sound basis in law.

“I don’t want to curb anybody’s enthusiasm but simply to say that the appeal will be determined and the courts said very clearly that it will make its decision on the 21st of April and we should all await that date, I see final pronouncements are being posting around as if this is the end all, this is simply a conservatory order until the main event comes and is concluded, “ Nandlall said.

While the extradition proceedings have been ongoing in the Magistrate’s Court, the Mohameds’ have been climbing every Court step, challenging both the proceedings and the law which allows for the proceedings to take place, all in a bid to fight off the extradition to the United States to face an 11 count indictment related to allegations of fraud and tax evasion.

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