ATTORNEY-at-law Nigel Hughes, on behalf of his claimant, Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, on Friday made an oral application before Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George, S.C, at the Demerara High Court, seeking to be listed as intended respondent in the case being tried to obtain evidence that will be used to prosecute him and others for alleged elections misconduct.
The matter at hand is filed by the Commissioner of Police (ag), Nigel Hoppie, and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack, S.C. for Orders to obtain certified copies of the Statements of Poll (SoPs) and Statements of Recount (SoRs) from the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections that is currently lodged with the Registrar of the High Court, Sueanna Lovell. The Chief Justice (ag), on January 18, 2021 had ordered that the SoRs and SoPs be lodged with the High Court for “safekeeping”.

The request for the documents to be lodged at the court was made by Attorneys-at-law Douglas Mendes, S.C., and Kashir Khan, who brought to the court’s attention that the Representation of the People Act allows for the Chief Elections Officer to destroy all elections documents after a 12-month period would have elapsed.
With several employees of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) being prosecuted with regard to their conduct during the March 2, 2020 polls, the DPP had advised and instructed the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to obtain certified copies of the SoPs and SoRs as part of their investigations and gathering of evidence for presentation to the Court. The employees at reference are Mr. Clairmont Mingo, GECOM’s District Four Returning Officer, who was charged with four counts of Misconduct in Public Office; Mr. Lowenfield, who was charged with three counts of Misconduct in Public Office, and three counts of Forgery; and Ms. Roxanne Myers, Deputy CEO, who was charged with two counts of Misconduct in Public Office.

Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C, subsequent to the hearing, took to Facebook to express his opinion that Lowenfield’s request to join the proceedings is “another attempt to block the SoPs from being made public”.
“At the hearing today, Mr. Nigel Hughes, appearing for Keith Lowenfield, indicated that he wishes to join the proceedings for the purpose of persuading the Court that the Statements of Poll should not be released,” Nandlall wrote on Facebook.
“In short,” he explained, “Mr. Lowenfield wants the High Court to prevent relevant and probative evidence against him from being made available to the Prosecution in his criminal trial!!” The Commissioner of Police and DPP had submitted, in their application to the Court, that the SoPs and SoRs are necessary for the fair hearing of the charges against the employees, as they constitute relevant evidence for the prosecution to prove the commission of the offences which are charged.

The Commissioner of Police, by common law and statute, particularly Section 50 of the Criminal Law (Procedure) Act, has the lawful right to collect and recover all documents and property which are relevant to the investigation and prosecution of any circumstance; however, the Registrar has informed him that she is unable to comply with his request without a Court Order. She then went on to inform him that should he require access to said documents, he needed to obtain an Order of Court with specific directions directed to her. “Aside from that,” she said, “I cannot act outside the scope of the extant order.”
But the DPP and Commissioner of Police have reiterated, in their application to the High Court, that it is imperative for them to be afforded access to the official copies of SoPs and SoRs, as the documents are relevant evidence to prove that the various employees committed the offences they are charged with.

While the documents can be easily obtained from the political parties, as they are in the public domain, the official ones lodged with the Court by GECOM would be best to dispel any doubts as to their authenticity. “If the prosecution does not have these documents, the hearing of the charges instituted will be inordinately delayed, because hundreds of witnesses will have to testify, in their stead, in the charges instituted, causing the case not to be afforded a fair hearing within a reasonable time,” the DPP wrote in her affidavit in support of the application. The Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C., Lovell, and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) are listed as respondents in the case. Lowenfield is expected to serve affidavits supporting his application, on or before May 19, on the other parties involved, and the matter will be called up on May 24, for hearing of the argument in the case.