The court proceedings for the elections fraud conspiracy charge against former Chair of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Volda Lawrence, former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) District Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo and APNU+AFC activist Carol Smith-Joseph will be called again in March.
Lawrence, Mingo, Smith-Joseph, as well as Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Registration Clerks Shefern February, Michelle Miller and Denise Babb–Cummings and Information Technology Officer Enrique Livan, who allegedly conspired with them, made their appearance at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Friday.
During a hearing, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan told them that their next court date will be on March 25 for a trial date to be determined.
Lawrence, Mingo, and Smith-Joseph are being represented by attorney Nigel Hughes
The seven persons are accused of conspiring to inflate the results of Region Four–Guyana’s largest voting district– to give the APNU+AFC coalition a majority win at the polls. The dispute over the District Four vote count led to a 35-day recount scrutinised by CARICOM, and various observer groups. The recount determined that the PPP/C had won the elections. Following several legal challenges, the declaration of the results was made five months after March 2.
In April, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan ruled that the three public figures will be tried summarily in the Magistrate’s Court for the election fraud charges currently pending against them. Following the ruling, in October, Prosecutor Darshan Ramdhani QC, who is prosecuting the matter, handed over several boxes containing certified copies of Statements of Poll (SOPs) and Statements of Recount (SORs) from the March 2nd 2020 general and regional elections to the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
