Min McCoy slams ‘machinery of lies’ behind disinformation on extradition case

– govt’s role strictly procedural

The government is not taking any special actions in the extradition case against businessmen Azruddin Mohamed and Nazar Mohamed, which is currently at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister with Responsibility for Public Affairs and Information, Kwame McCoy, shared the government’s position regarding the extradition case, warning against a disinformation campaign aimed at misleading the public.

“The blatant disinformation peddled by the Mohameds through their dedicated, callous, crass, well-funded machinery of lies attempts to cool the hot water they have found themselves in. It has become so clear that they will stop at nothing to wriggle out of the criminal entanglement of their own doing”, Minister McCoy said.

According to the minister, society still values factual reporting, objective journalism, truth-telling, and cautioned the public against ‘agents’ spreading falsehoods in an effort to distort facts.

“Extradition law is based on arrangements between and among nations, it is a relationship based on comity, mutuality, and reciprocity whereby a contracting party to an extradition treaty such as Guyana accepts the authenticated documents of a foreign country as a party when those documents flow from a process as has been done in the United States which led to the criminal indictment by a Grand Jury of Azruddin and Nazar Mohamed,” Minister McCoy said.

The minister further stated that the local extradition process does not require a trial where witnesses and evidence are presented to the court.

McCoy explained that a contracting party, such as Guyana, accepts that the procedure arising from the US grand jury’s indictment is proper and in keeping with legal principles and obligations.

The minister stated that in all of this, the state receiving the extradition request (Guyana) must bear the cost of assembling a legal team to carry out the extradition proceedings through the local court.

“This is a settled part of the process relating to extradition, going back 100 years. Any person with a fleeting acquaintance with the subject ought to know this. Guyanese are now wiser not to be duped by the crookish meanderings that are part of Team Mohamed’s heritage”, the minister said.

Last Monday, President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali dismissed claims that the government delayed the opening of the 13th Parliament due to the ongoing extradition process involving businessman Azruddin Mohamed, describing the allegations as misinformation designed to foster a victim narrative.

President Ali clarified that the matter involving the Mohameds is strictly legal and an international issue, having been initiated by US authorities long before his administration took office in 2020.

“This is not about politics; this is about the law taking its course,” President Ali asserted, explaining that, “This issue did not start yesterday. It started long before even the OFAC sanctions. When we came into office, there were already reports in the local and international media about the Mohameds being involved in gold smuggling, money laundering, and other criminal activities.”

He emphasised that it was not the government that initiated the case but international law enforcement agencies, in response to the serious criminal allegations.

“The government took all the legal and administrative steps necessitated by the sanction,” the President stated, adding that the process has been handled transparently and with full respect for due process.