Following a series of claims he made yesterday in a video, Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed has been served with legal letters on behalf of Mohamed Aqtar Ali, the brother of President Irfaan Ali and Sigma Engineers demanding a withdrawal of statements and threatening legal action.
In the letter on behalf of Mohamed Aqtar Ali, attorney Kashir Khan said a series of statements made by Mohamed about his client are untrue.
He said that the entire tone and tenor of the video clip was intended “to malign and impugn the character, honesty and integrity of my client and was calculated to create a
false and misleading impression in the minds of right-thinking members of the Guyanese society of him and even further afield and has, in fact, already done so, given the negative comments about my client online”.
Khan said his my client is not a director or shareholder in any of the companies referenced in the video clip, nor has he ever been.
“My client asserts that your statements about him in the video clip are calumnious, unsubstantiated and defamatory in their entirety.
“I am further instructed to state that any repetition or further publication of these statements, whether electronically or otherwise, to third parties – and the resulting responses online or elsewhere – only amplifies the defamatory nature of the utterances made in the video clip. These baseless allegations
must be withdrawn forthwith in the appropriate manner, failing which my client will take legal action as may be advised to protect his reputation, without further notice”, Khan wrote.
Impugning
For Sigma, attorney Sase Gunraj said that the 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”, Gunraj wrote.
He said that his client has been awarded one 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”, Guunraj asserted.
Gunraj said that Sigma holds Mohamed liable for defamation and intends, if necessary, to commence proceedings against him in the High Court of the Supreme Court of Judicature of
Guyana.
He said that his 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.
Gunraj then demanded 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 Sigma;d. provide a full and unequivocal written retraction and apology in terms to be agreed with Sigma’s attorneys;
publish the retraction and apology with substantially the same prominence and to substantially the same audience as the original publication;
and pay compensation to Signa in the sum to be agreed, together with our client’s reasonable legal costs incurred to date.
Failure to do these things will result in legal action against Mohamed, Gunraj warned.
Discussion