Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, says a letter written by attorneys for Nazar “Shell” Mohamed and Azruddin Mohamed to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is “completely unworthy of a response.”
Speaking on his weekly programme, Issues in the News, Nandlall said he had seen the letter sent by the Mohameds’ lawyers to the CCJ, but dismissed it as undeserving of a formal reply.
“I read it, and it is unworthy of a response. Completely unworthy of a response,” Nandlall said. “The court will deal with it as the court sees fit.”
The Attorney General was responding after lawyers for the Mohameds reportedly asked that CCJ President Justice Winston Anderson take no further part in proceedings involving their clients unless allegations raised in leaked correspondence and public commentary are fully addressed.
Nandlall said the CCJ president has already issued a detailed statement rejecting allegations made against him and clarifying the court’s position.
According to the Attorney General, Justice Anderson made it “abundantly clear” that the Mohameds’ case was decided unanimously, and that issues being raised about alleged “panel fixing” related to a separate dispute over dress code, not the decision in the Mohameds’ matter.
“But I believe that [the] president and his statement has put to rest most of the issues of a serious nature that were raised in those leaked correspondence,” Nandlall said.
The Mohameds had challenged the Authority to Proceed issued in relation to extradition proceedings against them. The CCJ dismissed their appeal on July 29.
Nandlall used the programme to stress that the decision was unanimous, saying unanimity meant all seven judges agreed on the final outcome of the appeal, even if some arrived there through different reasoning.
“You know what unanimous means, right? Unanimity means that everyone said the same thing. And the same thing was that the appeal [was] dismissed,” he said.
He added that no judge dissented from the decision, although some judges may have written separately because they took different legal routes to the same conclusion.
Nandlall also pointed to the length of the ruling, saying the judgment ran 256 pages and gave the judges full opportunity to set out their reasoning.
“Two hundred and fifty-six pages by any standard. It’s a most elaborate judgement,” he said.
The father and son duo is wanted in the United States to face criminal charges, including alleged money laundering and wire fraud. Their extradition proceedings in Guyana are expected to continue in September in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
