Court cases brought against officers of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) in the wake of the March 2nd, 2020 general elections have been adjourned until October 6 and two new applications have been made by the state’s prosecutors.
The matter was called again on July 15 before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court where the applications were made.
Stabroek News understands that the two applications which were made before the Chief Magistrate were for the thirty-plus charges to be tried before one Magistrate, rather than three.
The various cases were tabled to be called before the Chief Magistrate, Principal Magistrate Sherdel Issacs, and Senior Magistrate Leron Daly.
The second application was for some particulars of the charges to be amended, since it is believed that those amendments will make a case that all of the defendants played a crucial role in the conspiracy to deceive the citizens of Guyana.
Chief Magistrate McLennan adjourned the matters until October 6 when she said that the applications will be heard and a decision may or may not be made then.
The two applications were made by the state’s prosecutors, Darshan Ramdhani QC, Glenn Hanoman, Mark Conway, Ganesh Hira, Arudranauth Gossai, and George Thomas.
The defendants, Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield; Deputy Chief Election Officer, Roxanne Myers; District Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo; member of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Volda Lawrence, and others, are being represented by attorney Nigel Hughes and others.
They 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 had led to a 35-day recount which was scrutinised by CARICOM and various observer groups. The recount had then 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.
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.
Lawrence and Mingo were also charged with intent to defraud. It is alleged that they uttered a report, alleging to be a true declaration of all votes cast in District Four for the March 2, 2020, general and regional elections, knowing that the report was false.
It is further alleged that Joseph conspired with Mingo and others to declare a fraudulent count of votes for District Four.
Fraud charges were also brought against several GECOM workers – Michelle Miller, Denise Bob Cummings, Sheffern February and Enrique Livan – who are all on bail.
