From Guyana Government Partner To U.S.-Sanctioned Network: Opposition Demands Answers In The IMSAG Affair

By News Americas Now Staff Writer

News Americas, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Tues. Nov. 10, 2026: In March 2021, the picture from Guyana was one of partnership, investment and opportunity. A news report published in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle announced a proposed US$35 million joint venture aimed at boosting Guyana’s maritime industry. Photographs showed Indian businessman Captain Suniel Kumar Sharma and associates alongside senior Guyanese officials as plans were promoted for a marine training institute, shipyard and dry dock, scholarships and hundreds of jobs. The venture was not presented as an outsider operating without government knowledge.

According to the article, Guyana’s Maritime Administration Department, MARAD, had entered into formal arrangements involving Sharma-linked entities. On February 4, 2021, MARAD Director General Captain Stephen Thomas signed an agreement delegating statutory certification services for Guyana-registered vessels. On March 3, MARAD and the Ministry of Public Works entered into a Memorandum of Understanding appointing Sharma’s Aryavart Corporation as an international technical and administrative representative of the Guyana Ships Registry under the name International Maritime Safety Agency of Guyana, IMSAG.

The March 2021 Chronicle report went even further, promoting plans for more than US$35 million in investment, a maritime training institute, shipyard and dry dock, 100 scholarships and more than 600 jobs for Guyanese. Opposition Member of Parliament Amanza Walton says the report also recorded commitments from Public Works Minister Bishop Juan Edghill, then Minister within the Ministry Deodat Indar, MARAD Director General Thomas and GO-Invest CEO Dr. Peter Ramsaroop to work with the venture.

FIVE YEARS LATER

Five years later, the story looks very different. On November 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned Sharma, his wife Jaspreet Preeti Shahid and several associated entities, accusing their network of operating fraudulent maritime registries and providing false flags and certifications to vessels transporting Iranian petroleum, including vessels linked to Iran’s military and its proxies.

Among the entities sanctioned was Aryavart Ship Management Private Limited. Treasury also sanctioned companies controlled by Shahid, including Alexarya Finserv Private Limited and Alexarya Media and Entertainment Private Limited.

THE IRONY

The following day, Guyana’s MARAD welcomed the U.S. action. MARAD described Sharma and Shahid as instrumental in managing a network that fraudulently represented vessels as registered in Guyana through IMSAG and said the government remained committed to preventing fraudulent use of the Guyana flag.

That response has now triggered questions from a political opposition party about how the same enterprise moved from an officially recognized relationship with Guyanese authorities to what the government now describes as a fraudulent operation.

WALTON: GOVERNMENT MUST EXPLAIN ITS ROLE

Opposition Member of Parliament Amanza Walton has accused the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic, PPP/C, of hypocrisy over its response to the U.S. sanctions. In an opinion piece titled “From Red Carpet to Rogue Enterprise: The PPP Government must answer for its role in the IMSAG Affair,” Walton argues that the government cannot present itself solely as a defender of Guyana’s maritime registry without accounting for the formal relationship it previously established with Sharma and his companies.

Walton points specifically to the February and March 2021 agreements and the highly publicized investment plans that followed. “These are not my allegations,” Walton wrote, noting that details of the agreements were later referenced in correspondence from Guyana’s Attorney General to Sharma.

Her central question is straightforward: if the relationship later proved problematic, what due diligence was carried out before Sharma-linked entities were given authority connected to Guyana’s international ship registry? Walton is also asking who introduced Sharma to the Ministry of Public Works, who approved the arrangements and when officials first became aware of alleged misconduct.

FROM PARTNERSHIP TO TERMINATION

Guyana eventually severed the relationship. MARAD has said it terminated all arrangements with IMSAG on August 13, 2021. But that termination became widely visible months later after the cargo vessel Eolika, reportedly carrying illegal arms and ammunition, was detained in Senegal while purportedly operating under Guyana registration.

On January 20, 2022, MARAD said Eolika was not contained in Guyana’s local ships registry and that its documents were believed to have been issued by IMSAG. MARAD said it had severed all ties with the company several months earlier. Four days later, the Guyana government issued a much stronger statement declaring that it was “in no way connected or related” to IMSAG or its principals.

That statement acknowledged what it described as an “undertaking” with MARAD but said the relationship had been halted after fraudulent representations and illicit conduct were discovered. Walton argues that description understated the extent of the earlier official relationship because the Ministry of Public Works itself had been involved in the March 2021 Memorandum of Understanding.

A RELATIONSHIP THAT ONCE HAD OFFICIAL AUTHORITY

An investigation published by Bellingcat in February 2026 adds important context. The investigative outlet found that IMSAG was not always operating without Guyana’s authorization.

“Crucial to understanding how IMSAG has continued to operate as a fraudulent registry for so long is that it was once legitimate,” Bellingcat reported. Its investigation found that while the MoU was in effect, IMSAG served as Guyana’s international ship registry and used the imsag.org domain to register and flag vessels on Guyana’s behalf. Guyana later terminated the arrangement, but Bellingcat found evidence that certificates continued to be issued under the IMSAG name years afterward.

Bellingcat said it downloaded 230 vessel certificates covering 87 ships, including certificates issued as recently as December 2025 — long after Guyana withdrew its authorization.

Sharma has disputed allegations surrounding his current involvement. He previously told the Financial Times that the Guyana registry had been discontinued after authorities withdrew consent and later told Lloyd’s List that he had left the ship-registration business.

U.S. TREASURY: NETWORK SUPPORTED IRAN’S SHADOW FLEET

The November 2026 U.S. sanctions dramatically raised the stakes. Treasury accused Sharma and Shahid of building a network of false flagging authorities and maritime classification societies across multiple jurisdictions. The department said the network purported to represent countries ranging from Guyana to Eswatini and Laos and enabled vessels tied to Iran’s shadow fleet to evade international restrictions.

Treasury also cited the April 2026 seizure of the Majestic X, formerly the Phonix, which it said was falsely flying Guyana’s flag while carrying Iranian oil. MARAD, in welcoming the sanctions, said Guyana had consistently raised fraudulent registration at regional and international maritime forums and supported stronger international action against such schemes.

THE ACCOUNTABILITY QUESTIONS

The documentary record establishes two facts that now sit beside each other. In 2021, Guyanese authorities entered formal arrangements connected to Sharma and promoted significant investment plans involving his enterprise.

By 2022, the government had severed those arrangements and publicly denounced IMSAG. By 2026, U.S. authorities were sanctioning Sharma, Shahid and associated companies over an alleged global maritime fraud network, while the Guyana government welcomed the crackdown.

The unresolved issue is what happened between those points. When did Guyanese officials first discover problems with the operation?; What due diligence preceded the February and March 2021 agreements?; Why was the termination of the relationship not immediately announced publicly?; Who authorized Sharma-linked entities to represent Guyana internationally?; And what safeguards were put in place after that authorization was withdrawn?

Walton says those questions require more than a statement welcoming sanctions. For Guyana, the issue is no longer simply whether IMSAG later used the country’s flag without authorization. It is also how an enterprise once publicly embraced as a partner of the state obtained that authority in the first place — and whether the full story of that relationship has ever been disclosed.

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