GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The extradition matter involving Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed, and his billionaire businessman father, Nazar “Shell” Mohamed, was adjourned for a week on Monday after the elder Mohamed was reported to have fallen ill.
Principal Magistrate, Judge Latchman, agreed to the adjournment to February 16 after hearing representation by attorney Siand Dhurjon, one of the lawyers representing the Mohameds.
The prosecutor for the United States, Glenn Hanoman, said that the lead prosecutor, Jamaican attorney Terrence Williams, was also absent from Monday’s proceeding due to a pressing overseas engagement.
Mohammed, the leader of the main opposition We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, along with his 73-year-old father, was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for allegedly smuggling more than 10,000 kilogrammes of gold worth more than US$50 million and in the process, failing to pay the relevant taxes to the Guyana government.
Last October, a US Federal Grand Jury unsealed an 11-count indictment on the Mohameds for alleged wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering. Subsequently, the US requested his extradition to face trial for those alleged crimes.
The Mohameds are also challenging the validity of the extradition request in two separate civil cases in the High Court.
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