Attorney General Anil Nandlall on Wednesday accused the defence team representing businessman Nazar Mohamed and his son Azruddin Mohamed of deliberately delaying extradition proceedings, even as the Magistrate’s Court was prepared to move the matter forward.
Speaking to members of the press following High Court hearings related to the extradition matter, Nandlall said efforts were made to advance the scheduled committal hearing, but those attempts were frustrated by the defence.
“There were efforts being made to get the defence team to attend to a magistrate’s court hearing in an attempt to bring forward that February date to an earlier date because the magistrate was apparently prepared to give a date in January,” the Attorney General said.
According to Nandlall, an earlier date was initially not fixed due to a reported scheduling conflict involving one of the defence’s foreign attorneys. He said that issue was later resolved, but further attempts to advance the hearing were unsuccessful.
“They cleared up that diary collision and they went back to the magistrate, I’m told, and they attempted to get the magistrate to bring the parties together to see if they can fix an earlier date because it makes no sense to wait until February,” he said.
The Attorney General told reporters that the prosecution side was ready to proceed and responded promptly to communications from the court.
“The magistrate sent out emails to the prosecution side and to the defence side. The prosecution side responded immediately and said, ‘we are ready to come,’” Nandlall said.
He alleged, however, that the defence failed to respond in a timely manner.
“The defence are hiding. They have not replied up to now,” he said, adding that the magistrate herself attempted to engage the defence without success.
Nandlall also took issue with explanations publicly advanced by the defence for their unavailability.
“In their letter, you heard two of them going to cancer treatment and they made the letter public. And one got some big commitment that they can’t extricate themselves from,” he said. “And all three of them are here. You saw that. So there’s a lot of games playing.”
The Attorney General said that unless the magistrate is able to advance the hearing date, the process will remain stalled until the next scheduled stage in February.
“If that date is not brought forward, what happens? Well, everything stays until the next step in the legal process,” he said. “Unfortunately, there is no step between now and then.”
Nandlall expressed hope that the Magistrate’s Court would still be able to bring the matter forward.
“I’m hoping that the magistrate can still be able to bring back the date to an earlier date and time so that we can move the process forward,” he said.
