THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will be calling in the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to investigate three cases of duplicate registrations, which were committed during the ongoing cycle of continuous registration.

According to a press release, this decision was made on Tuesday, at a statutory meeting, following deliberation on findings from an internal investigation in which three cases of persons who were already registered applied again for registration using different source documents with different dates of issue, names, and dates of birth.

GECOM reminded the public that the National Registration Act, Chapter 19:08 as amended by Act No. 26 of 2022, stipulates legal provisions for registration offences and the associated penalties.

In this regard, GECOM said it is of crucial importance to note that the registration laws have established penalties for registration offences, with provision for fines of up to $5 million and imprisonment of five years.

“The Commission takes this opportunity to formally notify all concerned that, henceforth, all cases of duplicate registrations will be reported to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) for investigation, and consequent action in keeping with the relevant legal provisions,” the release stated.

GECOM also reminded the public that deliberately providing false information, fraudulently obtaining an identification card, fraudulently using an identification card, falsely alleging the loss or destruction of their identification card and applying for a new card while in the possession of an identification card, presenting false information or documents containing false information for registration, or withholding information about an existing registration, and knowingly applying to be registered more than once are registration offences.

Some of the other offences under the National Registration Act also entail permitting or inducing another person to use an identification card in order to impersonate a registered person; destroying or defacing identification cards or documents, making false objections or statements in relation to an entry on a list along with impersonating GECOM registration officials.