The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has withdrawn the private criminal charges filed against Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield and issued fiats for six attorneys to prosecute the charges still pending against him.
Just days before the scheduled start of Lowenfield’s trial, the private charges were withdrawn yesterday, when he appeared before city magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus.
Josh Kanhai and Desmond Morian, two candidates for the March 2nd polls, had filed the private charges against Lowenfield, who was accused of seeking to manipulate the results of the elections.
Following a hearing yesterday, Lowenfield’s attorney, Nigel Hughes, confirmed the withdrawal of the charges and a source told Stabroek News that the decision was due to the fact that the police had filed similar charges against Lowenfield, resulting in the decision to withdraw the private ones.
Attorney Lowenfield Sanjeev Datadin, one of the lawyers appointed to prosecute the remaining charges against, said following the investigations of the matter by the police, the DPP decided on what charges to proceed with and which ones not to.
Hughes, who noted the decision of the DPP to give fiats to six individuals to prosecute the charges against his client, objected to Datadin’s participation due to his being a sitting Member of Parliament for the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government.
He argued that to give Datadin the responsibility for the prosecution of a matter that is highly political in nature has the appearance of bias. “A person who is on the opposite side of the political fence or advocating a position that is hostile to the defendant ought not to be vested with this power,” he said, while adding that he believed that Lowenfield’s right to a fair trial has been adversely impaired.
However, Datadin said bias would only arise if the court, which is hearing the matter, had an interest and he maintained that it had nothing to do with him being an MP as Hughes is contending.
It was later stated that the court ordered that their respective submissions on the issue be put in writing ahead of Lowenfield’s next court date, slated for November.
The other attorneys who have been issued with fiats to prosecute the charges against Lowenfield are Glenn Hanoman, Ganesh Hira, Arudranauth Gossai, George Thomas and Mark Conway.
Datadin stated that the intention behind having a six-person team is to move as quickly as possible to have the process started and concluded.
Based on Kanhai’s complaint, it was alleged that between March 5th and June 23rd, 2020, Lowenfield conspired with a person or persons unknown to commit the common law offence of fraud by representing to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) that tables attached to his June 23rd elections report accurately reflected the true results of the elections in order to materially alter the results, with intent to defraud as he knew the tabulation to be false.
Morian alleged that while performing his duty as CEO, Lowenfield willfully misconducted himself by ascertaining results of the elections “knowing the said results to be false,” without lawful excuse or justification. The third charge, also brought by Morian, alleged that Lowenfield conspired with a person or persons unknown to commit fraud by representing to GECOM that the tables in his March 14th Elections Report reflected the true results of the elections, knowing that the tabulation was false, in order to materially alter the results of the elections.
Lowenfield was subsequently charged by police with three counts of misconduct in public office and three counts of forgery.
Meanwhile, Hughes also disclosed that the prosecution had asked that the matters be heard completely at the Magistrate’s Court, to which he said the defence objected.
Hughes stated that he believes that the allegation against Lowenfield is that he defrauded the people of Guyana, and therefore he should face the people in the shape and form of a jury of 12 persons.
It was stated that the prosecution argued that the matter was too complex for a jury, which Hughes said was a specious argument because “judges direct juries.”
Datadin said that he believed that the Magistrate’s Court is equally capable of handling the proceedings reasonably and fairly.
As a result of the arguments, Hughes said the court invited submissions on the issue, which would also be considered at a subsequent hearing.
Also appearing in court yesterday was Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers, who has been charged with two counts of misconduct in public office.
Following a hearing before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan where a full disclosure of the evidence against Myers was expected to be made, Hughes said the same objections to Datadin’s participation and the move for a summary trial were repeated.
The court then ordered that a written submission be provided on the matters.
Further, Hughes disclosed that while making his application for an indictable trial for Myers, Datadin in his submission to the court described the matter as a “simple criminal charge.”
Hughes questioned how the matter was being categorised as such after the manner in which his client was handled by police.
