HGP Nightly News – Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, has hit back at former MP Charrandass Persaud over a public dispute about language in the Mohamed extradition matter, insisting that his use of the term “fugitive offender” is not rhetorical flair but a direct reflection of how Guyana’s law defines the category.
Speaking on his weekly programme Issues in the News, Nandlall addressed a video in which Persaud argued that calling the Mohameds “fugitive offenders” was both grammatically and legally wrong. The Attorney General rejected that claim, stressing that his wording was deliberate and based on statute.
“I am very careful when I use legal terminology,” Nandlall said, adding that the answer to the criticism lies plainly in Guyana’s existing legislation. He pointed to the Fugitive Offenders Act, Chapter 10:04, and read from the statutory definition, which states that a fugitive offender is a person who is accused or alleged to be unlawfully at large, including after conviction.
Nandlall explained that the law applies to individuals accused of extraditable offences who are suspected to be outside the jurisdiction where the offence was committed. Crucially, he emphasised that conviction is not required for the designation to apply. “So he’s a person who is accused, not a person who is convicted,” Nandlall said, arguing that the Act is explicit on this point.
He maintained that the issue is not one of opinion or semantics, but of statutory interpretation. “The laws of Guyana say that what you want me to call him, if the laws of Guyana say that he’s a fugitive offender,” he stated.
Nandlall also placed Guyana’s legislation in a wider Commonwealth context, noting that similar terminology exists elsewhere. He pointed to England, where comparable legislation uses the phrase “fugitive criminal,” and said the concept is consistent across jurisdictions even where the wording differs.
“Our Act describes him as a fugitive offender,” he reiterated, urging Persaud and other critics to consult the primary law before challenging the terminology.
He ended by saying he hopes the legal explanation settles the matter for those objecting to the phrase, adding: “So I hope that Charrandass would stand educated, and so would the rest of the persons who seem to have some objection to the use of that term.”
