U.S. says Mohameds’ extradition case is based on ‘hard, unequivocal evidence’…says Mohameds are guilty of the offences

U.S. Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot has dismissed claims by sanctioned Azruddin Mohamed and his father Nazar Mohamed that the extradition case against them is politically driven, insisting that the United States is proceeding strictly on the basis of evidence and law.Responding to suggestions that the matter is rooted in political persecution, Theriot made it clear that the U.S. does not bring criminal charges for political reasons.“The United States does not pursue criminal charges for political reasons. We do it because we have hard, unequivocal evidence against a person,” the Ambassador said.She added that the U.S. would not pursue a case unless it believed it had a strong chance of success.“Why would we take on a case we don’t think we’re going to win? That’s just a waste of the U.S. taxpayers’ money,” she said.Theriot said the United States firmly believes the Mohameds are guilty of the offences for which they have been indicted and noted that the matter is now before the Guyanese judiciary.“It’s in the Guyanese judiciary’s hands at this point, and we’re ready to move forward,” she stated.The Ambassador also addressed concerns that extraditing the Mohameds could trigger political instability in Guyana, saying she hoped that would not happen.“I hope that destabilisation doesn’t occur. I mean, that would be really tragic, because we’re simply holding people that we believe are guilty of a crime accountable for that crime,” she said.Theriot further suggested that the alleged wrongdoing was not only a matter affecting U.S. taxpayers, while stopping short of elaborating in detail.“It’s not just the United States taxpayers that were defrauded. I’ll just leave it at that,” she remarked.She emphasised that the case is being handled in accordance with the law and rejected any suggestion that the proceedings were politically motivated from the American side.“It’s not politically, certainly not politically motivated from our side,” the Ambassador said.She also stressed that the indictment was issued by the U.S. government, not the Government of Guyana.“It is our indictment. The government of Guyana did not indict the Mohameds,” Theriot said. “And I can assure you that there’s nothing political about it from the U.S. side.”Azruddin and Nazar Mohamed are wanted in the United States, where they face allegations linked to fraud and money laundering.