HGP Nightly News – A Guyanese-Canadian attorney has identified what he calls a striking contradiction in the extradition case against Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and his father Nazar: the procedural challenges are racing through the courts while the core extradition hearing barely inches forward.
Selwyn Pieters took to social media to highlight the unusual disparity, noting that legal challenges filed as recently as January have already climbed from the Magistrates’ Court through judicial review in the High Court, past the Court of Appeal, and are now set to reach the Caribbean Court of Justice by the end of March.
“The Mohameds’ case is moving at breakneck speed,” Pieters observed. “Justice on target.”
But his pointed commentary carried a sharp edge. While the procedural battles race ahead, the substantive extradition proceedings before Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman, he noted, are “crawling at a snail’s pace.”
Since hearings began on January 6, only one witness has been examined.
Prosecutor Glenn Hanoman has been equally frustrated, describing the cross-examination of the first witness, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sharon Roopchand-Edwards, as dragging on for more than two months. He called the protracted process “a masterclass in delay.”
The case stems from U.S. allegations that the Mohameds, through their gold trading company, engaged in a years-long scheme to evade taxes and royalties on gold exports. Both men were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in 2024, and an extradition request followed. They face charges including conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud.
For Pieters, the contrast is stark: one part of the legal battle moves at breakneck speed. The other barely moves at all. And as the procedural challenges race toward the region’s highest court, the central question, whether the Mohameds will be extradited to face U.S. charges, remains unresolved in the courtroom where it matters most.
