A Brother’s Fortune: Inside the Sigma Engineers Contracts and the President’s Family at State House

 A Brother’s Fortune: Inside the Sigma Engineers Contracts and the President’s Family at State House

OPINION BY: Staff Writer – August 2026

Leader of the Opposition Azruddin Mohamed alleges a company tied to President Irfaan Ali’s brother collected over $12 billion in GWI contracts within years of incorporation. The 592 Guardian examines the documented record and calls for the claims that go beyond it to be independently tested.

What Is Documented

Sigma Engineers Limited was incorporated on October 6, 2022. Corporate incorporation filings reviewed by this newsroom identify Tamjeed Rahmaan   a Bangladeshi-Canadian national, as incorporator and director, and list him also as company secretary, with a registered address at 225F New Market Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown , a commercial, not residential, address.                   

Public procurement records confirm Sigma Engineers as an active bidder and awardee on multiple Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) contracts processed through the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), a pattern corroborated independently by prior reporting on GWI’s water treatment expansion program.

The documented contract record, as compiled by the Leader of the Opposition and reviewed by this newsroom, includes:

Figures as presented by Leader of the Opposition Azruddin Mohamed; this newsroom has independently corroborated Sigma Engineers’ status as a named GWI/NPTAB contractor but has not independently verified every individual contract value or award date listed above.

The Family Connection

Mohammed Aqtar  Ali, brother of President Irfaan Ali, returned to Guyana from Canada in 2022, two years into his brother’s presidency and the year of Sigma’s incorporation. Mohamed alleges that Aqtar Ali — previously a factory worker in Canada with no prior business record — is the true beneficial party behind Sigma, with Rahmaan fronting as the named director. This newsroom has reviewed the incorporation and financial documents Mohamed cites; they establish Rahmaan’s formal roles and Aqtar  Ali’s appearance on Sigma’s financial records.

Enitity Documents for Sigma Engineering

They do not, on their face, establish a beneficial-ownership or control arrangement — that characterization is Mohamed’s allegation and remains to be tested by an independent authority with investigative and subpoena power.

“How does a newly incorporated company move from being an unregistered entity to receiving billions of dollars in government contracts in five working days?”

— Azruddin Mohamed, Leader of the Opposition

Mohamed further alleges that Junaid Bayat — described as Aqtar Ali’s religious leader, formerly an imam in Toronto, joined Sigma as a director in May 2024 despite no disclosed business or engineering background, and that Bayat used mosque pulpits during last year’s campaign to attack Mohamed politically. This newsroom has not independently verified Bayat’s compensation history in Canada or the pulpit conduct alleged; both are reported here as Mohamed’s claims.

The Phagwah Day Drowning

Ten-year-old Jayden DeCourcy and his eight-year-old sister Tiana drowned on March 3, 2026, near the GWI facility at Bachelor’s Adventure. Technical and GWI documentation reviewed by this newsroom establishes that a backwash discharge from the water treatment system at Bachelor’s Adventure, the facility built under Sigma’s contract  is documented as a factor in the conditions at the site where the children died. This is the most serious element of the record and, unlike the ownership and fronting allegations above, is treated by this newsroom as independently documented rather than as attributed claim alone. The 592 Guardian is seeking comment from GWI and the Ministry of Housing and Water on the facility’s backwash protocols and any internal review conducted since March.

Procurement: Ten Bidders, One Winner

Mohamed’s account of the well-drilling tenders describes a pattern in which ten contractors bid and nine were rejected, with Sigma awarded the work — repeated, he says, across separate NPTAB tenders for wells at Melanie, Friendship, Westminster, GWI headquarters, Port Mourant, Garden of Eden, Shirley Field-Ridley, Better Hope and Goed Fortuin. This newsroom has reviewed NPTAB bid-opening records for at least one of these tenders showing multiple bidders including Sigma; it has not yet independently confirmed the full nine-rejected pattern across every tender listed and is seeking the underlying evaluation reports from NPTAB.

Approval Letters from NPTAB

On the pricing question, Mohamed cites unnamed engineering sources placing markups on some Sigma contracts at 70 to 100 percent above comparable cost — a figure this newsroom is reporting as an anonymously sourced allegation, not a verified finding. No named quantity surveyor or engineer has been produced to attach their professional judgment to that number, and The 592 Guardian has not independently reviewed a bill of quantities for any Sigma contract. Readers should treat the 70–100 percent figure accordingly, pending named or documentary corroboration.

State House and Community Land

Mohamed alleges that Aqtar Ali resides at State House and exercises influence over staff there, and that a portion of community land at Eccles , previously earmarked for community purposes and the subject of resident displacement — was made available for a Sigma bond, generating complaints from residents about dust, noise and disruption. These are presented here as Mohamed’s claims; this newsroom has not independently confirmed Aqtar Ali’s residency arrangements or the land-allocation decision and has sought comment from the Office of the President and the relevant regional authority.

The Call for Investigation

Mohamed has called on the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to investigate the Sigma contracts — the procurement process, the bid evaluations, the beneficial ownership, and the flow of funds. He has also directed a public challenge to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, in his capacity as PPP General Secretary, to act on the allegations rather than remain silent.

“Irfan has corruption in his DNA, and the entire PPP knows this.” — Azruddin Mohamed

The 592 Guardian is not in a position to adjudicate the central allegation — that Sigma Engineers functions as a vehicle for the president’s brother, sustained by preferential procurement  on the documents made available to us alone. What is established on the record is narrower but still serious: a company with no operating history prior to October 2022 secured over $12 billion in GWI contracts within four years, its named director’s professional background does not evidently correspond to engineering or water infrastructure, and a technically documented backwash issue at one of its facilities coincided with the deaths of two children. Those facts alone warrant the SOCU and FIU review Mohamed has demanded.

The remaining allegations — fronting, beneficial ownership, the scale of markups, and the conduct of individuals connected to the president’s family , are serious enough that they should not rest on a political speech in either direction. They require subpoena power, not press conferences.

— The Board, The 592 Guardian

Editor’s note: This report is based on a public statement by Leader of the Opposition Azruddin Mohamed and on documents provided to this newsroom. Claims attributed to Mr. Mohamed are reported as allegations pending independent verification, except where this newsroom states it has separately corroborated the underlying record. The 592 Guardian has sought comment from the Office of the President, Guyana Water Inc., and the individuals named, and will publish any response received.