Chairman of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Volda Lawrence was yesterday arrested and placed on $100,000 station bail by the Criminal Investigation Department.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum said: “Ms Lawrence was arrested in relation to post March 2 events. Police interviewed her and conducted other aspects of the investigation and placed her on substantial bail to return tomorrow to the CID headquarters,” he explained.
While Blanhum declined to state the bail amount of the charge, Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon has said that Lawrence was placed on $100,000 bail.
In a video statement on his party’s page, Harmon accused the police force of engaging in harassment in an attempt to legitimize spurious charges.
“There was no reason for her to be rearrested…it appears the police wanted to have her placed in the lock ups overnight as was the case with Ms [Roxanne] Myers [Deputy Chief Election Officer] and others,” Harmon claimed.
Lawrence was initially invited to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Eve Leary on Saturday afternoon to answer to allegations stemming from the probe. However, that visit was aborted at the last minute.
While no reason was cited for this, Stabroek News was informed that Lawrence was asked to report to the police on Monday instead. However, that did not happen.
Lawrence is already facing a criminal charge of uttering a forged document related to the polls.
She was previously charged alongside District Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo for allegedly uttering a forged document with intent to defraud the public contrary to Section 278 of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act.
However, the police later rejected this claim and said the time was agreed on to accommodate Lawrence’s lawyer.
In a statement, police spokesman Assis-tant Commissioner Royston Andries-Junor said that investigators contacted Lawrence’s lawyer, Nigel Hughes, and invited her to the CID Headquarters to put an allegation to her in relation to the elections investigation.
Hughes, the police said, initially indicated that Lawrence would be there for 10am on Saturday but later requested that they exercise their discretion and permit him to bring Lawrence at 4pm on Saturday instead.
The request was granted. “The police investigators had no difficulty in acceding to the Attorney’s request and so the time for Ms. Lawrence to report to the CID location in the company of her Attorney was duly re-scheduled as requested,” the GPF explained
“It is evident that there is a plan to detain Ms. Lawrence as others have been detained previously,” APNU+AFC further charged, while maintaining that Lawrence, who has been placed on bail, has dutifully attended court as required and complied with all requirements. “The charges against her are baseless, spurious and trumped up,” the coalition had said.
