Fmr PNC Chair warns Opposition members against electing int’l fugitive Azruddin Mohamed as Opposition Leader

Former Member of Parliament (MP) and Chairman of the Peoples National Congress (PNC), Shurwayne Holder, is cautioning opposition parliamentarians against electing international fugitive, Azruddin Mohamed, as Opposition Leader.

Members of the Parliamentary Opposition – which comprises the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) – will on Monday vote for someone among them to be the Opposition Leader.

It has been presumed that the Leader of WIN, US-indicted businessman Azruddin Mohamed, will be elected to that position since his party occupies the most seats among the opposition parties.

Mohamed and his father, Nazar, have been indicted by a grand jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on 11 criminal charges ranging from wire fraud and mail fraud to money laundering, primarily connected to the export of gold to the US by their company, Mohamed’s Enterprises.

Holder is urging the opposition members against voting for such an individual.

“My humble advice to the sitting MPs on the Opposition benches: it will be hypocritical of you to complain about corruption, drugs or money- laundering if you choose to elect someone to lead you, who has not successfully cleared their name of those very charges. Your credibility is now on the line,” Holder said in a Facebook post.

In that post, Holder shared a snippet from the live broadcast by House Speaker Manzoor Nadir, where he expressed “I have found myself in this difficult position to hold the election of the Leader of the Opposition when I know that the presumptive Leader of the Opposition to be elected an is an international fugitive.”

Nadir himself had urged opposition members to decide whether they believe it will be morally right to elect an international fugitive as Opposition Leader. “I trust that those involved in this process of electing the Leader of the Opposition would be guided by the dignity of the House, the reputation of our country, and the sanctity of the responsibility that has been entrusted upon them by the electorate,” Nadir had noted.

The election for the Leader of the Opposition will be held at 10:00hrs on Monday, ahead of the presentation of the 2026 budget by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh.