Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield, Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers and Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo were yesterday faced with two joint charges of conspiracy to defraud voters at last year’s general and regional elections.
The three appeared before Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus in a Georgetown court, where the charges were read against them.
It is alleged that Lowenfield, Myers and Mingo, between March 2, 2020 and August 2, 2020, conspired with each other and together with Volda Lawrence, Carol Smith-Joseph, Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Bobb-Cummings, Michelle Miller and others to defraud the electors of Guyana by declaring a false account of votes cast for the General Elections of March 2, 2020.
It is also alleged that they and the others committed the same offence in relation to the Regional Elections of March 2, 2020.
They were not required to plead to the charges and the matters were adjourned until September 14, 2021. In the interim, they were each released on $100,000 bail.
Lowenfield, Myers and Mingo were originally supposed to appear in court on June 9 to hear these charges but received late notice of the time for appearance.
The trio were recently sent on leave by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) pending the outcome of a decision on disciplinary charges leveled against them.
Lowenfield is already facing three charges of misconduct in public office and three counts of forgery, while Myers is defending herself against two counts of misconduct in public office.
Mingo has been individually and jointly charged with forgery and conspiracy to defraud. He was charged along with PNCR Chairman Lawrence with one count of conspiring to commit fraud. Individually he is charged with four counts of misconduct in public office and also jointly charged with APNU+AFC agent Joseph with one count of forgery.
Additionally, February, GECOM Information Technology (IT) Officer Livan, Bobb-Cummings, and Miller have also been charged.
