CHAIRPERSON of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Volda Lawrence was on Tuesday released on $100,000 station bail after presenting herself to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for questioning into allegations of fraud committed at the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
Lawrence’s attorney, Nigel Hughes said his client has always made herself available to the Police, and that the detention of any person for questioning by the Police should only be used when there is a concern that that person might be a flight risk, or interfere with evidence in the case.
Hughes told reporters that the offence for which Lawrence was arrested relates to activities that took place at the Ashmins Building, where the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) ran its operations centre for the March 02, 2020 elections.

On August 24, 2020, Lawrence was placed on $100,000 bail in relation to a private criminal charge filed against her for the alleged fraudulent elections declaration of March 5, 2020.
The charge was filed against her and Clairmont Mingo, GECOM’s Returning Officer for Region Four, since their signatures were found on said declaration, and a national vote recount found that the numbers were inflated in favour of the APNU+AFC coalition.
Mingo is also facing several fraud charges, among them uttering a forged document with intent to defraud the public, contrary to Section 278 of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act.
Mingo is currently on $600,000 bail for charges related to electoral fraud. Their cases have been adjourned to November 16, 2020, to allow the prosecution time to complete the filing of statements.

Meanwhile, on Friday last, Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO) Roxanne Myers was released on $300,000 bail, after pleading not guilty to two counts of misconduct in public office, when she appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
Myers is represented by Hughes, and colleague Attorney-at-Law, Ronald Daniels. The Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, who is also before the court, but on three private criminal fraud charges, is expected to go on trial next month.
On Friday last also, when the case was called before Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, the prosecutor had just filed additional statements, and was given until October 23 to file the remainder.

The charges were filed by People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) member Desmond Morian, and General Secretary of The New Movement (TNM), Daniel Kanhai, on June 30, 2020.
The magistrate has set November 13 for commencement of the trial for the case filed by Morian, while Kanhai’s matter was given a November 20 start date.
When the charges were read to Lowenfield back in July, he was not required to plead, and was later released on $450,000 bail.
As the country’s chief elections officer, Lowenfield had presented results for the elections, with the exact inflated figures for the APNU+AFC coalition, as was declared by Mingo.
The results were described as fraudulent, and there was a public outcry. A national vote recount which was done subsequently, clearly established that the PPP/C was the winner of the elections.

The election results were finally announced on August 2, 2020 after a five-month delay.