Extradition Hearing For Guyana Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed Continues Today

News Americas, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Thurs. Sept. 3, 2026: The extradition hearing for Guyana opposition leader Azruddin Mohamed and his father, Nazar “Shell” Mohamed, continues today, Sept. 3rd in the Guyana Magistrate’s Court, part of six all-day court dates scheduled through next week after Guyana’s Court of Appeal ordered the proceedings to move forward.

Chief Magistrate Judy Latchman has scheduled hearings for September 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10. The United States is seeking to extradite the pair to face trial in Miami federal court. According to a Southern District of Florida indictment returned in October 2025, Nazar Mohamed is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and mail fraud, while Azruddin Mohamed is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud.

Florida US prosecutors allege the pair’s company, Mohamed’s Enterprise, evaded an estimated $50 million in Guyanese gold export taxes and royalties between 2017 and 2024 by reusing government seals on unreported shipments and paying bribes to customs officials, and that Azruddin Mohamed separately evaded more than $1 million in Guyanese taxes on a Lamborghini shipped from Miami to Guyana. Both men were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in June 2024, and the indictment seeks forfeiture of $5.3 million in gold bars seized at Miami International Airport that year. An indictment is an allegation; both men are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Notably, Guyana’s own Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew a separate, domestic tax evasion and false declaration case against Azruddin Mohamed over the same Lamborghini in November 2025, citing the active U.S. extradition request. The DPP said the charges were dropped in the interest of ‘international comity, appropriateness and fairness’ so domestic and international proceedings would not conflict. A Guyanese High Court judge separately ruled the tax authority lacked legal power to reassess taxes on the vehicle at all, a decision the GRA is appealing

The Guyana hearings are proceeding under a Court of Appeal order issued last week, which ruled that the extradition proceedings should not be halted entirely despite the Mohameds’ ongoing constitutional challenge to the Fugitive Offenders (Amendment) Act. In a unanimous decision, the court, presided over by Chancellor of the Judiciary Roxane George-Wiltshire and Justices of Appeal Rishi Persaud and Nareshwar Harnanan, ruled that “having considered the arguability of the appeal, the respective risks of injustice, the balance of convenience, prejudice and the public interest in the orderly and expeditious conduct of extradition proceedings, the Court is not satisfied that those proceedings should be halted entirely.”

And the Caribbean Court of Justice on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, dismissed a bid by Nazar and Azruddin Mohamed to halt the extradition proceedings. The Mohameds had sought special leave from the CCJ to appeal the Court of Appeal’s ruling allowing the Magistrate’s Court case to continue, along with interim orders to stay the proceedings while that application was considered. The CCJ dismissed both the stay application and the other relief sought. It comes two months after the CCJ upheld earlier High Court and Court of Appeal rulings that Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs acted within his powers under the Fugitive Offenders Act in authorizing the extradition proceedings to resume following a four-month suspension. With the latest bid dismissed, hearings in the Magistrate’s Court are set to resume as scheduled on September 3.

The judges said it was “just in the circumstances to preserve the effectiveness of the appeal by permitting the proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court to continue while staying the final disposition pending the hearing and determination of the appeal.” That means the Magistrate’s Court can hear the case, but must withhold any final ruling until the constitutional appeal is resolved.

The Mohameds must file their record of appeal by September 4 and written submissions by September 9, while Guyana’s Attorney General must file written submissions by September 23. The constitutional appeal itself is scheduled for an in-person hearing on October 13.

The Mohameds are represented by attorneys Roysdale Forde, Siand Dhurjon and Damien DaSilva. The state is represented by Attorney General Mohabir Anil Nandlall, Solicitor General Nigel Hawke, Deputy Solicitor General Shoshana Lall, and attorneys Joshua Cullen and Dishon Persaud. Mohamed has denied wrongdoing and has framed the U.S. case against him as politically motivated.

Days earlier, a rally with the diaspora in New York

The hearing comes just days after Mohamed rallied the Guyanese diaspora from Guyana at a sold-out inaugural launch of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party’s New York City chapter in Long Island on August 29th.

In a video message to supporters, Mohamed reaffirmed his commitment to a “people centered” Guyana, invoking the legacies of founding leaders Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham. “These are the leaders who understood that the nation’s strength comes from its people. Not its politicians,” he said. “I have seen my people oppressed and I want more because Guyana deserves better.”

WIN Members of Parliament Vishnu Panday and Janelle Sweatnam joined as guests of honor, while WIN NYC chapter founders Hana Mohamed and Charles Sugrim were recognized for organizing the launch. Hana Mohamed told the gathering the movement had persevered despite what she described as political persecution against the opposition leader, saying he “has faced relentless political persecution and intimidation, oppression, attacks on his character… He has been forced to fight battles in the court while simultaneously carrying the vision entrusted to him by the Guyanese people.”

Event host Hadiyyah Mohamed said the party’s vision for the diaspora extends beyond remittances. “For far too long the diaspora has been overlooked, unheard and treated as though your contributions to Guyana began and end with sending money home,” she said, calling instead for a Guyana “where coming home is not a sacrifice but an opportunity.” Attendees also held a candlelight observance in remembrance of those who died in the MV Barima disaster.

NewsAmericasNow will continue following the Mohamed extradition hearing as it continues this week. Reporting from Kaieteur News and Demerara Waves contributed to this story.