Mohamed Aqtar Ali, the brother of Guyana’s President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, has threatened legal action against US-sanctioned and criminally indicted Opposition Leader of Guyana, Azruddin Mohamed, over statements made in a widely viewed Facebook video that Ali says are false, reckless and defamatory.
In a letter dated Aug. 17, attorney Kashir A. Khan, acting on Ali’s behalf, demanded that Mohamed withdraw the allegations “forthwith,” warning that failure to do so could result in legal proceedings without further notice.
Mohamed, leader of the We Invest in Nationhood party, was formally elected leader of the opposition in January after WIN emerged as the largest opposition party in the National Assembly following the 2025 elections.
The opposition leader has a history of
levelling allegations against government officials and state institutions, several of which have been rejected by government officials as false, misleading or unsupported.
The latest dispute stems from a video uploaded to the Team Mohamed Facebook page around 6 a.m. Monday in which Mohamed made several allegations concerning Ali, including claims about his alleged relationship with Sigma Engineers Limited, government contracts and his purported influence and access at State House.
Khan said the video specifically identified his client as the president’s brother before making a series of assertions about his alleged business activities.
Among the statements highlighted in the attorney’s letter was an allegation that Sigma Engineers Limited was Ali’s company and was being “fronted” by his friend, Taamjeed Rahmaan, described in the video as a Bangladeshi Canadian.
Mohamed was also quoted as alleging that Rahmaan and Ali knew each other from a mosque in Canada and that Rahmaan was brought into Guyana to help Ali “rob taxpayers.”
Khan described that allegation as particularly egregious.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” the attorney said, adding that his client considers the statements “calumnious, unsubstantiated and defamatory in their entirety.”
The video also contained allegations that Ali lives at State House and operates with a level of access and influence that has caused concern among employees there. Another allegation concerned the purported availability of community land for a company linked to Ali to construct a bond.
Khan rejected the allegations on his client’s behalf, saying they were untrue and could not be supported by “cogent and proper evidence.”
“For the record, my client is not a director or shareholder in any of the companies referenced in the video clip, nor has he ever been,” Khan wrote.
According to the letter, the video had accumulated more than 384,000 views and over 1,600 comments by Monday, with many of the comments described as negative.
Khan said the overall tone of the video was intended to damage Ali’s character, honesty and integrity and create a false and misleading impression of him among members of the public.
The legal threat comes as Mohamed himself remains under U.S. sanctions and faces serious criminal allegations in the United States.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Mohamed, his father, Nazar Mohamed, and Mohamed’s Enterprise in June 2024 under Executive Order 13818, which implements the Global Magnitsky sanctions framework. U.S. authorities accused the Mohameds of involvement in public corruption, including gold smuggling, tax evasion and efforts to improperly influence government officials.
Mohamed and his father were subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida in October 2025 over an alleged multimillion-dollar gold export, tax evasion and money laundering scheme.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, prosecutors allege that between approximately 2017 and 2024, the Mohameds concealed the true quantity and value of gold exported by Mohamed’s Enterprise to avoid paying taxes and royalties owed to Guyana.
The indictment alleges that the company paid taxes and royalties on gold shipments to obtain official Guyana Revenue Authority and Guyana Gold Board seals and then reused those seals on subsequent shipments for which the required payments had not been made.
U.S. prosecutors further allege that empty boxes bearing intact government seals were shipped from Dubai through Miami back to Guyana so the seals could be reused. The indictment also alleges that bribes were paid to Guyanese government officials, including customs officials, to facilitate shipments using duplicate paperwork and reused seals.
Prosecutors allege that at least 10,000 kilograms of gold were exported through Miami under the scheme, resulting in approximately US$50 million in lost taxes and royalties to the Guyana government.
Azruddin Mohamed is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud. The indictment separately alleges that he participated in a scheme to evade more than US$1 million in Guyanese taxes connected to the importation of a Lamborghini from Miami to Guyana.
The U.S. case also seeks forfeiture of approximately US$5.3 million in gold bars shipped by Mohamed’s Enterprise that were seized at Miami International Airport in June 2024.
Against that background, Khan said any repetition or further publication of Mohamed’s allegations against Ali, electronically or otherwise, would amplify what his client considers defamatory statements.
“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.