GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Nov 2, CMC – Chief Magistrate Judy Latchman Monday refused an application filed by the lawyers representing the United States to refuse bail to Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed because of a “pattern” of alleged offences.
Mohamed, along with his businessman father, Nazar Mohamed, are wanted by the United States under an 11-count federal indictment involving wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, and a gold smuggling operation that allegedly evaded over $50 million in U.S. taxes.
The Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Guyana’s highest and final court, had in July, dismissed an appeal by the Mohameds, clearing the path for the extradition proceedings to continue in a Georgetown court.
Jamaican lawyer Herbert Mc Kenzie, one of the prosecutors for the United States in the extradition, had cited several recent charges instituted on Mohamed as grounds for the revocation of bail.
One of those included attempting to pervert the course of justice by, along with two others, discharging a loaded firearm on October 12, 2026 near the residence of a major witness in the extradition hearing, police intelligence chief Senior Superintendent Prem Narine.
But the magustrate in rejecting the prosecution’s request noted that pending or unconvicted separate charges were not sufficient to warrant revocation.
Her decision followed after hearing submissions from lawyers Roysdale Forde and Siand Dhurjon on behalf of Mohamed, who however remains on remand until November 24 in relation to the offences allegedly committed on October 12.
Mohamed is separately remanded at Lusignan Prison and facing charges under the Cybercrime Act alongside Police Constable Ryan Greene regarding the unauthorized disclosure of state surveillance footage
CMC/gt/I/ir/2026