GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Feb 6, CMC – A senior public servant she could not recall derogatory statements made by government ministers toward Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and his billionaire businessman father, Nazar “Shell” Mohamed, as their extradition matter continued here on Friday.
Principal Magistrate, Judy Latchman, allowed the lawyer for the Mohemeds to question Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sharon Roopchand-Edwards, despite the objections raised by Jamaican-born attorney, Herbert Mc Kenzie, who is prosecuting the matter on behalf of the United States.
Mohammed, the leader of the main opposition We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, along with his father were 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 a 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.
Attorney Siand Dhurjon told the court that the defence had evidence that the Guyana government paid more than US$700,000 to a US-based lobbying firm “specifically to advocate for the vilification” of the Mohameds and their extradition to the United States.
“So it’s a matter of agency. In this case, the US government has acted as agent of the Guyana government towards an improper political motive,” Dhurjon told the court, acknowledging that the political motive extended to the US.
Asked by the Magistrate whether he wanted his claims to be recorded, Dhurjon replied yes.
But Mc Kenzie said the issue of the malintent of the political activity is not a matter that can be put in a single circumstance.
“It’s putting to her that she’s a part of a country, a political event, a political activity, political motives. Is it proper?,” he said, and despite several objections by Mc Kenzie on the grounds of relevance, Dhurjon, primarily representing Azruddin Mohamed was allowed to ask Roopchand-Edwards, several questions about her connections to President Irfaan Ali, as well as her several government appointments.
The Permanent Secretary was also asked questions to establish that she possibly fast-tracked the personal hand-over of the extradition request to Home Affairs Minister Oneidge Walrond who then issued the Authority To Proceed (ATP) for the committal hearing currently underway.
Dhurjon told the court that his line of questioning was aimed at establishing that the extradition request was founded on collaboration between the US and Guyana governments as part of a plot to go after the Mohameds for political reasons.
Roopchand-Edwards admitted under oath that she and her sister knew President Ali for several years and they had been appointed to government positions over the years, and that she was part of “some” government outreaches in 2025 which included President Ali but could not recall exactly when.
She also said that she was a member of the Guyana Gold Board, played a role in the approval of gold export licences for the Mohameds between 2020 to 2025, but said she could not recall specifics about government’s communication that the Mohameds should have no gold export license.
She said she also could not recall Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo saying that Azruddin Mohemed was a gold smuggler, he stole a large amount of taxes, and he’s a criminal, and that he would be held to account for all his criminal behavior.
She said through social media and many news pieces she read or heard Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC make similar negative comments about the Mohameds but could not specifically say when exactly they were made before October 2025.
She could not recall that Foreign Minister Hugh Todd made allegations that the Mohameds had connections with then Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro,and that Todd had said that Nazar Mohamed visited the Venezuelan Embassy.
Roopchand-Edwards said she was aware of public utterances over the past several months by the President, Jagdeo and Todd.
Specifically, she said she was aware that the President had spoken a lot of things about Azruddin’s bid for the Presidency, but could not recall that he said last July that Azruddin Mohamed was a threat to Guyana’s national security even as she acknowledged “I have seen some statements like that” and that Mohamed was a gold smuggler and defrauded the state of taxes.
The Permanent Secretary said that since receiving the extradition request for the Mohameds on October 30, 2025, she had received one other on November 26.
The magistrate did not allow a subsequent question by Dhurjon whether the Permanent Secretary was aware whether proceedings were brought to court in that matter.
But Dhurjon said it was relevant, telling the court “part of the defense is that the proceedings have been politically motivated. It goes to show whether other requests have even received a charge to proceed as yet”.
The matter is continuing.
CMC/gt/ir/2026