Attempts by the Attorneys for the businessmen, Nazar and Azruddin Mohamed, to have the Magistrate Court pause its extradition proceedings failed this morning with the Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman ordering the Prosecution to call the first witness.

The Mohameds are fighting an extradition request by the US to face money laundering, tax evasion and other charges.

In Court this morning, Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde, Siand Dhurjon and Damien Da Silva submitted to the Court that it should not proceed with the committal proceedings against the father and son, one day after the High Court refused to pause the proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court. The Attorneys said they are appealing that High Court ruling.

Senior Counsel Forde told reporters that it was important to bring the various applications to the attention of the Court.

“Yesterday, we filed an appeal to the full court and we filed a concomitant application for a stay, which we expect to be heard soon. We don’t have a date as yet. So, that is pending and that is a continuation in the march towards the ultimate arbiter, which we believe to be the CCJ to decide these issues. In relation to the Judicial Review Application, that is a very important application because we are challenging in that application the authority of the minister to issue an order to proceed, and we would be concomitantly be challenging the arrest and all of the related proceedings,” Forde explained.

Inside the Courtroom, the Defence Team argued that the Minister of Home Affairs, Oneidge Walrond, is Azruddin Mohamed’s political rival and her order to proceed with the extradition proceedings is politically biased. 

That issue is at the centre of the Application for Judicial Review. Further, they maintained that the Mohameds could be gravely prejudiced if the committal proceeding is allowed to commence while decisions in the higher courts are pending.

But the lead Prosecutor, Terrence Williams, shut down those arguments.

Relying heavily on the acting Chief Justice’s decision, Williams told the Court that the applications by the Mohameds can proceed concurrently with the extradition process without the risk of injustice. He argued that once committal proceeding ends, there will be an opportunity for future challenges.

Magistrate Latchman after listening to the arguments put forward, instructed the Prosecution to call the first witness, and told the Attorneys on both sides that “no stay has been granted in the matter, and the matter will proceed.”

“The court ruled that in applying the law, there was no stay, in fact the stay was refused and there was no further stay, and the Chief Justice had ordered that the proceedings be continued. And, the Principal Magistrate applied the law, we say properly, in ordering the proceedings to commence this morning,” Williams explained as he welcomed the Court’s decision.

But even as the first witness – Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sharon Roopchand Edwards – entered the witness box, Senior Council Forde made another intervention. He told the Court that even as it was proceeding to committal proceedings, the Defendants nor their Attorneys have not been furnished with the list of the corresponding and local charges.

“For the first time we raised the fact that at the time we were not in receipt of those local charges. We pointed to the authorities, and explained it to the court, and at that time, notwithstanding the first witness was called to give evidence, we were not in receipt of something the court effectively conceded was required,” Forde said.

It was not until Forde brought the issue to the attention of the Court that Special Prosecutor Williams listed a total of eight corresponding charges. Those charges are: conspiracy to commit misdemeanor, conspiracy to commit a felony, computer related fraud, obtaining by false pretense, inducing persons by false pretense, forging of public documents, false declarations and money laundering.

Forde, upon hearing the charges appeared dissatisfied and stood to his feet again, but Magistrate Latchman reminded him that her decision was final, and the committal proceedings would commence. “Mr Forde, I have ruled, let’s not have a kangaroo court at this time,” the Principal Magistrate said as the first witness made her way to the witness box for a second time.

The Attorney General, Minister Anil Nandlall has accused the Defence Team of employing a number of delaying tactics to drag out the process.

But Forde told reporters that Minister Nandlall’s behavior is inconsistent with that of an Attorney General.

“He has to decide on one hand if he is an active politician, and to the extent that he is the Attorney General, the holder of an Office and Head of the Bar of Guyana, that he is required to conduct himself in an appropriate way. Our society has gotten so docile to the extent that we allow office holders to do whatever they want to do. It is improper for Mr Nandlall to be making the statements that he has been making,” Forde said.

Brushing aside the concerns of the Attorney General, Forde stated that the objective of the Defence Team is not to delay the extradition proceedings, but to ensure that the defendants are treated fairly throughout the proceedings.

He said the team will fight to the end.

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