GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Sept 21, CMC – Chief Magistrate Judy Latchman Monday declined to examine a Guyana Police Force (GPF) press release about evidence given by a senior police officer in the ongoing extradition proceedings against Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and his wealthy businessman father, Nazar Mohamed that could amount to he perversion of justice.
“I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to prejudice my mind. I sequestered my mind a long time ago. Yes, I do not pay attention to any media. I do not pay attention to phones or screens. I concentrate on what is being said in this in the walls of these courtrooms from that witness box and no place else,” The Chief Magistrate said.
Defence attorney Siand Dhurjon told the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court that the statement issued by the GPF earlier this month had sought to explain the testimony of the head of the GPF’s Special Branch, Senior Superintendent Prem Narine.
Testifying under oath on September 10, Narine said that the notes were burnt “near a furnace”.
“There is an area in Special Branch compound next to a furnace, which is condemned but we use the area immediately close to that furnace where I placed the shredded document I mentioned, along with others, and I light them. I can’t recall if it was a lighter or match and I light them afire,” Narine said.
Dhurjon told the court that he was concerned that the GPS statement misquoted evidence, mischaracterised what was said, and sought impermissibly to prejudice not only the public’s opinion, but also the court’s opinion on what Narine meant to say or should be saying.
“He indulges that opportunity to confer, and in the interim, none other than his employer issues an institutional explanation, an institutional post justification, and misquotes mischaracterized evidence, and I don’t think any other description could be attributed to the press release of the police force, other than it being an attempt to pervert the course of justice,” Dhujron said.
He argued further that the GPF statement had been issued while Narine remained a witness under cross-examination.
“What has become all the more compounded now,” Dhurjon said, was the publication of the police release, which he described as an institutional explanation and justification of Narine’s evidence.
The GPF has maintained that it was correcting media reports and rejecting any suggestion that evidential documents connected to the extradition proceedings had been destroyed.
In its statement the GPF said that Narine had produced and tendered the official records required for the proceedings, including his statement, relevant Station Diary entries and executed arrest warrants.
It said the destroyed material consisted of working notes which were disposed of in accordance with procedures for sensitive documents and contained no evidential material that had not already been incorporated into Narine’s statement.
In a September 18 letter to Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken, Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde said Narine had not given the evidence attributed to him in the police statement.
The defence also pointed to Narine’s evidence that he personally shredded and burned three books in January 2026 and that he believed one of them contained a note about an interaction between the Mohameds and US law-enforcement official Sandy Rao after their arrest.
Narine had also acknowledged that the interaction was not recorded in the Brickdam Police Station diary and was not mentioned in his police statement.
But the Chief Magistrate Monday rejected any attempt to show her the press statement.
“Do not show me. Do not bring it to my attention. I don’t want to see the. I’ve not seen the content. I don’t want to see it. I don’t intend to see the content either,” she told the court.
The United States is seeking the extradition of the Mohameds on an 11-count Grand Jury indictment for alleged wire fraud, money laundering and mail fraud linked to their then registered gold trading business.
CMC/gt/ir/2026