The legal team representing Guyana’s Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed has launched a sharp attack on the credibility and impartiality of the lead prosecution witness in the ongoing US extradition proceedings against the politician-turned-businessman, claiming the senior police official is acting out of partisan loyalty to the sitting government. In arguments delivered to the court during a bail application, defense attorney Roysdale Forde laid out a pattern of targeted actions by Senior Superintendent Prem Narine, head of the Guyana Police Force’s Special Branch intelligence unit, against his client, who is wanted by US authorities to face trial on charges of money laundering, wire fraud, and mail fraud connected to the gold trading business he runs with his father.
Forde told the court presided over by Justice Faith McGusty that Narine holds multiple conflicting roles across the separate cases against Mohamed: he is the key witness for the state in the extradition hearing, while also serving as the lead investigator, virtual complainant, and prosecution witness in the separate firearms and attempted perversion of justice charges filed against Mohamed and two of his employees. Those local charges stem from an alleged October 12 incident where Mohamed is accused of firing shots near Narine’s Georgetown home. Narine has claimed that Mohamed identified him as a target and labeled him the country’s top national security threat, but Forde emphasized that the police intelligence chief has failed to produce any concrete evidence to back up these claims.
A further troubling detail raised by the defense is Narine’s admission that he carried out surveillance on Mohamed without formal authorization from the Police Commissioner, a violation of standard police operating protocols. Forde also told the court that Narine was present at the Region Four Returning Office during elections activities, alongside officials who now form the current governing administration. The defense further argued that Narine received an accelerated promotion through the police ranks in what appears to be a reward for his partisan actions against the opposition leader, noting that the intelligence chief has actively positioned himself as a loyal ally of the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic while hiding behind a veneer of professional policing.
Mohamed and his two co-accused employees have already been granted bail set at GY$750,000 each in connection with the firearms and attempted justice perversion charges. This is not the first time Mohamed has faced legal action from Guyanese authorities in recent months. Prior to the current charges, he was arrested for claims he operated a boat without valid personal and vessel licenses, and for allegedly flying a drone over the private residence of Guyanese President Irfaan Ali in Leonora, West Coast Demerara. One of Mohamed’s employees is also facing separate charges under the country’s Civil Aviation Act linked to the drone incident.