CHIEF Magistrate Ann McLennan has adjourned the fraud case involving former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo; PNC/R Chairperson, Volda Lawrence; coalition political activist, Carol Joseph-Smith and four others, to March 25, 2022, for report.
The trio, along with Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) employees Sherfern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Bobb-Cummings and Michelle Miller are before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court for defrauding the electors of Guyana by declaring a false account of votes for the elections.
A team of special prosecutors comprising attorneys-at-law Darshan Ramdhani, QC, Glenn Hanoman, Mark Conway, Ganesh Hira, Arudranauth Gossai, and George Thomas are handling the case for the State. Attorneys-at-law Nigel Hughes, Eusi Anderson, Roynald Daniles and Konyo Sandiford are on record for the defendants.
The case came up before the Chief Magistrate on December 17. She then adjourned the case until March 25, 2022, for report, and on that day, a date may be fixed for the case management hearing.
In October, the State handed over certified copies of Statements of Poll (SoPs) and Statements of Recount (SoRs), to the seven accused who are before the court on multiple charges.
According to particulars of the first charge, it is alleged that, on March 5, 2020, with intent to defraud, Lawrence and Mingo uttered a report purporting to be a true declaration of all votes cast in District Four (Demerara-Mahaica) for the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections, knowing the same to be forged.
It is further alleged that, on March 13, 2020, Mingo and Smith-Joseph uttered a forged document purporting to be a true report of all votes cast in the March 2 elections, knowing that said report was forged.
It is also alleged that, on the said date, Smith-Joseph conspired with Mingo and others to declare a fraudulent count of votes for District Four.
Mingo, Lawrence and Smith-Joseph were each released on $100,000 bail.
Additionally, it is alleged that between March 2 and August 2, 2020, at Georgetown, Mingo, conspired with Lawrence, Smith-Joseph, February, Livan, Bobb-Cummings, Miller and others to defraud the electors of Guyana by declaring a false account of votes for the elections.
Recently, Mingo, along with Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, and his deputy, Roxanne Myers, had their employment terminated by the Guyana Elections Commission. Lowenfield and Myers have also been charged with electoral fraud and are before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
It is alleged that they inflated or facilitated the inflation of results for Region Four, the country’s largest voting district, to give the APNU+AFC Coalition a majority win at the polls when, in fact, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had won by 15,000 votes.
Those who rejected the results filed several legal challenges which ended up before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Guyana’s highest appeal court. A lengthy recount of the votes eventually declared victory in favour of the PPP/C, and Dr. Irfaan Ali was sworn in as the President of Guyana on August 2, 2020.
