Sigma Engineering requests negotiated compensation from Opposition Leader or face defamation lawsuit

Last Updated on Monday, 17 August 2026, 23:46 by Denis Chabrol

Sigma Engineering L.T.D. Inc; which had been contracted by the state-owned Guyana Water Inc to build potable water supply systems, on Monday offered Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed an opportunity to withdraw defamatory statements against the company  or be sued for defamation.

In a six-page letter to Mr Mohamed, Sigma’s lawyer, Sase Gunraj demanded from him that he withdraws the statements that the company regards as defamatory and agree to “pay compensation to our client in the sum to be agreed, together with our client’s reasonable legal costs incurred to date.”

No ultimatum was issued to Mr Mohamed, but Mr Gunraj warned him that if he did not give into the demands, a High Court case would be filed. “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,” Mr Gunraj said.

Contending that Mr Mohamed’s allegations are particularly serious because they concern Sigma’s professional competence and business dealings, the lawyer said the allegations are “wholly false”. The lawyer said his client was awarded a singular contract since its incorporation in 2022. The contract, he added,  was awarded in 2026 for the rehabilitation of the Shelter Belt of the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI), a job that was underway. Mr Gunraj also informed Mr Mohamed that Sigma was “never awarded the plethora of other contracts” as alleged by him in Monday morning’s 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,” he said.

Sigma Engineering L.T.D. Inc. said legal action would be taken if Mr Mohamed did not remove the content from the Team Mohamed’s Facebook page and issue a “full and unequivocal written retraction and apology in terms to be agreed with our client’s attorneys” and publish that apology with substantially the same prominence and to substantially the same audience as the original publication.”

The company intends to ask the High Court to award damages for defamation; aggravated damages, exemplary damages, and an  injunction restraining further publication or republication of the defamatory allegations;  interest, the costs of the proceedings and any other relief that the court may consider just.

“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,” Mr Gunraj also told Mr Mohamed.

Sigma Engineering, through its lawyer, also demanded that the Opposition Leader immediately cease and desist from publishing or repeating the allegations complained of, remove and permanently delete the defamatory publication(s), including any copies within his control, and provide a written undertaking that he will not repeat or republish the allegations, or substantially similar allegations, concerning that company. Mr Mohamed is also being asked by Sigma to provide a written undertaking to 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,” the lawyer requested of Mr Mohamed.