Engineering company Sigma Engineering Ltd Inc. has demanded that Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed withdraw statements it considers defamatory or face legal proceedings in the High Court.
The demand was contained in a six-page letter sent to Mohamed on Monday by Sigma’s attorney, Sase Gunraj, following allegations published on Mohamed’s social media platform concerning the company’s business dealings and contracts with the state-owned Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI).
Sigma contends that the allegations are false and damaging to its professional reputation and commercial interests.
Gunraj is demanding that Mohamed remove the disputed material from the Team Mohamed Facebook page, issue a “full and unequivocal written retraction and apology” in terms to be agreed with Sigma’s attorneys, and publish the apology with substantially the same prominence and to substantially the same audience as the original publication.
The company is also seeking compensation in an amount to be agreed, together with its reasonable legal costs incurred to date.
The letter does not set a specific deadline or issue an ultimatum. However, Gunraj warned that failure to comply would result in legal action without further notice.
“In the unlikely event of your failure to comply, legal proceedings will be initiated without further notice to you. Our client will seek the full relief available to it, together with interest and costs,”
Gunraj wrote.
Sigma disputes contract claims
A central point in Sigma’s response is its assertion that the allegations incorrectly attributed multiple Government contracts to the company.
According to Gunraj, Sigma Engineering Ltd Inc. was incorporated in Guyana in 2022 and has received one contract since its incorporation.
That contract, he said, was awarded in 2026 for the rehabilitation of the Shelter Belt belonging to GWI, with the project currently underway.
“Our client was never awarded the plethora of other contracts”
alleged by Mohamed, Gunraj stated.
The lawyer argued that Mohamed had no proper basis for making the claims and had failed to take reasonable steps to verify their accuracy before publication.
Sigma’s position comes against a broader controversy over the company’s corporate history and its involvement in Guyana’s water sector.
Public records show that Sigma Engineers Limited of Bangladesh, a company that says it has operated since 2003, was involved in major GWI water-treatment projects as early as 2022. In October of that year, GWI awarded contracts worth approximately $8.5 billion for seven water-treatment plants to three international companies, including Sigma Engineers Limited of Bangladesh.
The distinction between that Bangladesh operation and Sigma Engineering Ltd Inc., registered in Guyana in 2022, has become an important issue in the current public debate.
The existence of previous contracts involving Sigma Engineers Limited of Bangladesh does not, by itself, establish that those contracts were awarded to the Guyanese-incorporated entity or that either company engaged in wrongdoing.
Potential High Court action
Sigma has warned that if its demands are not met, it intends to ask the High Court for a range of remedies, including damages for defamation, aggravated and exemplary damages, an injunction preventing further publication, interest and legal costs.
Gunraj said the disputed publication has caused or is likely to cause substantial injury to Sigma’s reputation, goodwill and business operations and could affect its ability to recruit employees.
The lawyer said the allegations could lead reasonable people to believe that Sigma conducts its business in a “dishonest, improper, inefficient, and negligent manner.”
Sigma is also demanding that Mohamed immediately cease publishing or repeating the allegations, permanently delete the disputed publications and provide a written undertaking not to republish them or substantially similar allegations.
The company has further requested that Mohamed preserve all documents and electronic evidence relating to the publications.
“You are required to identify and preserve all records relating to the publication, including electronic messages, emails, social-media posts, recordings, drafts, correspondence and communications with persons concerning our client,”
Gunraj wrote.
The threatened proceedings come as Mohamed, who emerged as Leader of the Opposition following the 2025 General and Regional Elections, continues to challenge aspects of Government policy and the use of public funds.
At this stage, no court has determined that Mohamed’s statements were defamatory, nor has any High Court claim been filed based on the letter. Sigma’s allegations concerning the publications remain matters asserted by the company and its attorney unless and until determined by a court.
The dispute now places both sides on a potentially consequential legal path, with Sigma demanding a public retraction and compensation and indicating that it is prepared to pursue the matter before the High Court if those demands are not met.
See below letter from Attorney-at-law Sase Gunraj:
We act on behalf of Sigma Engineers L.T.D. Inc., a company duly registered in the Co- operative Republic of Guyana with its registered place of business at 225 F New Market Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown, Guyana
This letter is sent as a pre-action protocol and is intended to give you an opportunity to address and resolve this matter without the necessity of proceedings. The Courts of Guyana expect parties to have regard to applicable pre-action protocols relevant to costs and damages.
1. THE PUBLICATION
On or about 17th August, 2026, you published/posted/broadcast and spoke the following words concerning our client:
i. “How does a newly incorporated company move from being a newly registered entity to receiving billions of dollars in government contracts in 8ive working days? Sigma Engineers was registered on October 6, 2022. Within days, three government contracts, totalling approximately $3,697,000,000, were awarded.”
ii. “Taamjeed Rahmaan the Bangladeshi-Canadian, is listed in multiple capacities within Sigma…Taamjeed subsequently brought Bangladeshi nationals to Guyana because they wanted cheap labour to execute their many billion-dollar contracts.”
iii. “SigmareceivedacontractforworksatanexistingfacilityatCaledonia,valuedat$687 million. It received another contract for a new water treatment plant at Cummings Lodge, valued at $1,304,000,000. It also received a contract for a water treatment facility at Bachelor’s Adventure, valued at $1,647,000,000.”
iv. “Remember the two children who drowned on Phagwah Day? 10-Year-old Jadon De Courte and his eight-year-old sister Tiana lost their lives on March 3rd, 2026. The children drowned because the GWI plant. Behind the GWI plant, the facility was backwashed by the water treatment system at Bachelor’s Adventure, being built by Sigma.”
v. “In February, 2024, Sigma received another $254 million for additional works at the Bachelor’s Adventure facility; their greed knows no bounds. Then on November 29, 2024, Sigma received a $3,569,000,000 contract for the Hope Water Treatment Facility. On October 28, 2024, two more contracts for water treatment plants, one at Wakenaam and one at Leguan, totalled $1,468,000,000, and the numbers keep climbing.”
vi. “Information provided to us from within GWI is that work on the shelterbelt rehab has not commenced to date.”
vii. “On May 20, 2025, a contract for four Wells, Melanie, Friendship, Westminster, and GWI HQ was awarded for $411 million, and the pattern continued. On May 7, 2026, Sigma received $153 million contract to drill a well at Port Mourant. On that same date, another well drilling contract at Garden of Eden was awarded for 1$29 million. Now, on May 20, 2026, $124 million contract was awarded a well for Shirley Field Ridley. On the same date another $124 million contract was awarded for a well in Better Hope East Coast. Another well-drilling contract followed at Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara.”
The publication was made on 17th August, 2026, at approximately 6:00 a.m. on a Facebook page under the name “Team Mohamed’s”, which has over 537,000 followers. At the time of preparation of this letter, the said video publication had received a wide viewership on the platform, with over 384,000 views, 8,200 reactions, 2,100 shares and 1,600 comments.
A recording of the publication is retained and will be relied upon if proceedings become necessary.
For the avoidance of doubt, the video publication can be found at:
2. REFERENCE TO OUR CLIENT
The words clearly refer to our client because the name was mentioned repeatedly, and a copy its Certificate of Incorporation and other incorporation documents were prominently displayed during the said publication.
3. DEFAMATORY MEANING
The words complained of, in their natural and ordinary meaning conveyed, were understood to convey, among other things, that:
i. Our client was established only shortly before receiving a Government contract;
ii. The circumstances surrounding its incorporation and award of contracts were
improper and irregular;
iii. There was an improper association between our client and Mr. Mohamed Aqtar Ali,
thereby casting doubt upon the legitimacy of our client and its operation;
iv. Our client is engaged in unacceptable employment practices;
v. Our client engaged in negligent conduct which has resulted in the death of 2 (two)
children; and
vi. Our client has benefited from unfair and preferential treatment in the competitive
bidding process.
Those allegations are false and defamatory. In particular, the publication falsely presents our client as corrupt and unprofessional, thereby seriously impugning our client’s professional reputation.
The words convey factual imputations which tend to lower our client in the estimation of right-thinking members of society and adversely affect our client’s professional and/or business reputation.
4. FALSITY
The allegations are wholly false. Our client has been awarded a singular contract since its incorporation in 2022. The contract was awarded in 2026 for the rehabilitation of the Shelter Belt of the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI). Work has commenced and continues actively at the present time.
Our client was never awarded the plethora of other contracts as alleged by you in the said publication.
As a consequence, you had no proper basis for making the allegations and, notwithstanding the serious nature of the allegations, you failed to take reasonable steps to verify their truth before publishing them.
5. PUBLICATION AND REPUBLICATION
To the extent that you have repeated or republished the allegations, each such publication is relied upon.
You are required to identify and preserve all records relating to the publication, including electronic messages, emails, social-media posts, recordings, drafts, correspondence and communications with persons concerning our client.
6. SERIOUSNESS OF THE PUBLICATION AND DAMAGE
The allegations are particularly serious because they concern our client’s integrity, professional competence and business dealings.
The publication has caused and/or is likely to cause substantial injury to its reputation in the way of its trade and business, its goodwill and may hamper its ability to recruit staff. Further, it leads people of ordinary sense to the opinion that it conducts its business in a dishonest, improper, inefficient, and negligent manner.
Our Client reserves the right to rely upon evidence of the actual consequences of the publication in support of a claim for damages.
7. NOTICE OF CLAIM
Our client accordingly holds you liable for defamation and intends, if necessary, to commence proceedings against you in the High Court of the Supreme Court of Judicature of Guyana.
Our client will seek such relief as the Court considers appropriate, including:
a. damages for defamation;
b. aggravated damages, where justi`ied by the circumstances;
c. exemplary damages, where legally available and appropriate;
d. an injunction restraining further publication or republication of the defamatory allegations;
e. interest;
f. the costs of the proceedings; and
g. such further or other relief as the Court considers just.
8. REQUIRED REMEDIAL ACTION
In the circumstances, we are instructed to demand, as we hereby do the following:
a. immediately cease and desist from publishing or repeating the allegations
complained of
b. remove and permanently delete the defamatory publication(s), including any copies
within your control;
c. provide a written undertaking that you will not repeat or republish the allegations, or
substantially similar allegations, concerning our client;
d. provide a full and unequivocal written retraction and apology in terms to be agreed with our client’s attorneys;
e. publish the retraction and apology with substantially the same prominence and to substantially the same audience as the original publication;
f. identify all persons to whom you have communicated or republished the allegations, insofar as reasonably ascertainable;
g. provide a written undertaking to preserve all documents and electronic evidence relating to the publications; and
h. pay compensation to our client in the sum to be agreed, together with our client’s reasonable legal costs incurred to date.
In the unlikely event of your failure to comply, legal proceedings will be initiated without further notice to you. Our client will seek the full relief available to it, together with interest and costs.
Nothing in this correspondence constitutes a waiver of any of our client’s rights or remedies, all of which are expressly reserved.
All for your information and urgent attention.
