ON December 12, it is anticipated that Special Prosecutor Darshan Ramdhani will present to the court the guidance provided by Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Yonette Cummings concerning the allocation of a specialised court for the electoral fraud case.

He was expected to present same on Wednesday before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly, who is presiding over the hearing at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
Ramdhani conveyed to the court that the Chancellor’s communication has been dispatched, and he awaits a response that will likely detail any advancements made in tackling the issue. This case has remained stagnant for three years due to its intricate nature and the extensive amount of evidence involved.
The electoral fraud case involves former District Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo; former People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) Chairperson, Volda Lawrence; PNC/R activist Carol Smith-Joseph and four others.

The trio, along with Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Bobb-Cummings and Michelle Miller, are before the court for allegedly defrauding the electors of Guyana by declaring a false account of votes for the 2020 elections.

During a case management conference (CMC) before Magistrate Daly on October 4, Ramdhani requested that all the matters be consolidated into one, as the underlying evidence stems from the same source.

Magistrate Daly noted her existing caseload and expressed doubts about accommodating this request, as it might overburden the court further.
He offered to write to the Chancellor to discuss potential solutions and the appointment of a dedicated magistrate.

On Wednesday, Ramdhani informed the court that the letter was dispatched to the Chancellor and is currently awaiting her review on her desk, according to her assistant.
Ramdhani however, pointed out that the state is ready to proceed in whatever direction the case takes since the decision is ultimately up to the magistrate.
The magistrate pointed out that there are 24 charges before the court for the defendants, involving three different offenses and a substantial amount of evidence and statements.
To proceed with the trial, Magistrate Daly stressed the need to organise the evidence properly. Ramdhani assured the court of his willingness to assist in this regard.

Against the backdrop, the defendants’ attorney, Nigel Hughes, expressed concerns and contended that the Chancellor does not have jurisdiction to intervene at this stage.
Amidst accusations that the state was stalling the case, Ramdhani again clarified that the prosecution is prepared to commence their case.
Last year, the defence attorneys had made an application for the prosecution to drop some of the cases to expedite the proceedings.
Ramdhani had strongly objected to this proposal and reminded the court that the defendants’ lawyers had previously made such an application before the former Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, but it was rejected.

In dismissing the application, the Chief Magistrate had ordered that the case be heard expeditiously given its national importance.
Ramdhani along with Attorneys-at-law Glen Hanoman, Mark Conway, Ganesh Hira, Arudranauth Gossai, and George Thomas are all on record for the State. Attorneys-at-law Hughes, Eusi Anderson, Ronald Daniels and Konyo Sandiford are representing the defendants.

PARTICULARS OF CHARGES
It is alleged that Lawrence, Smith-Joseph, February, Livan, Bobb-Cummings and Miller between March 2 and August 2, 2020, at Georgetown, conspired with former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield and Mingo to defraud the electors of Guyana by declaring a false account of votes cast in the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections.
Additionally, Miller was slapped with a separate charge which alleged that between March 3-5, 2020, at the GECOM Command Centre at Ashmin’s building on High and Hadfield Streets, Georgetown, she conspired with persons to defraud the people of Guyana by not using the figures from the Statements of Poll for the purpose of ascertaining the figures to make the declaration of the results for the said District Four, thereby resulting in a false declaration being made for the said district.
The defendants’ attorneys had previously argued for the case to be heard in the High Court, given the nature of the proceedings which they claimed might infringe on their client’s rights to a fair trial within a reasonable time.

Nevertheless, the Chief Magistrate ruled that despite the voluminous evidence and the complexity of the case, the court has been proceeding with the hearing of the case “expeditiously.”
The case was thereafter transferred to Magistrate Daly.

In August 2021, Mingo, along with Lowenfield and his then-deputy, Roxanne Myers, had their employment terminated by the commission.
It is alleged that the trio 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.