POLICE Inspector Shane James, on Friday, gave testimony as the election fraud trial continued before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

The ongoing trial into allegations of electoral fraud stemming from the controversial March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections.

Those facing charges include former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers; former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo; former Health Minister under the previous A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government, Volda Lawrence; and People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) member, Carol Smith-Joseph.

Also on trial are former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) staffers Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller.

Collectively, the defendants, who are facing 19 charges ranging from conspiracy to defraud, to misconduct in public office, are represented by a strong defence team comprising attorneys Nigel Hughes, Dexter Todd, Eusi Anderson, Darren Wade and Ronald Daniels.

Due to the charges arising from the same set of circumstances, the matters have been consolidated.  Each defendant has pleaded not guilty to the charges and secured their release by posting significant cash bail.

Inspector James, who serves at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, Vlissengen Road, Georgetown, was led into evidence by prosecutor, attorney-at-law Madana Rampersaud.

Inspector James recalled that on August 30, 2020, at about 09:00 hours, he was on duty at CID Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown when he received “certain instructions” from a senior officer, now Assistant Superintendent of Police Komal Pitama.

Acting on those instructions, he left CID Headquarters and proceeded to the Vigilance Police Station, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

“On arrival at Vigilance Police Station, I contacted Enrique Livan and told him I was there to escort him to CID Headquarters for the police to conduct a further video interview with him,” Inspector James testified.

According to the officer, Livan asked to contact his attorney.

The policeman stated that he was armed with his personal cell phone when he dialled a number given to him by Livan.

He said the person who answered identified himself as Eusi Anderson, after which he handed the phone to Livan, who spoke with his attorney for several minutes.

The witness added that once the call ended, Livan made no further requests or objections.

“At no time before, during or after the escorting of Mr. Livan did myself or anyone in my presence make use of threats, force or violence, or offer any form of reward, promise or inducement to Mr. Livan,” Inspector James told the court.

The policeman stated that he could not recall the number Livan had provided but explained that it was recorded in his written statement.

He said that during their interaction, Livan appeared to be in good condition and that there were no injuries visible on the exposed parts of his body.

Inspector James also recounted an incident which occurred on August 31, 2020, at about 16:00 hours, when Sergeant Da Silva contacted Denise Babb-Cummings to inform her that the police wished to conduct a video interview.

He stated that Babb-Cummings asked to speak with her attorney and Sergeant Da Silva facilitated the call.

He explained that the person who answered identified himself as Eusi Anderson. After the conversation ended, he recounted that Babb-Cummings indicated that her attorney would not be able to be present and Sergeant Da Silva informed her that the interview would still go ahead.

James added that, like Livan, Babb-Cummings appeared to be in good condition and had no visible injuries. After completing his evidence-in-chief, Inspector James was cross-examined by attorney Hughes, who posed several questions to him.

The election fraud trial will continue from November 17–21 and November 24–28 before the Chief Magistrate.  When the trial resumes, a voir dire—a trial within a trial—has been scheduled to determine the admissibility of evidence presented by the prosecution against certain defendants.

The prosecution, led by King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhanie, argued that each defendant played a “critical role” in the deliberate effort to inflate votes for the APNU+AFC and reduce votes for the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).

In the weeks that followed the contentious March 2, 2020, vote, Guyana’s judiciary was inundated with multiple applications and appeals filed by various political actors over the electoral process.

The saga lasted five months before a national recount, led by GECOM and a delegation from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), confirmed the PPP/C’s victory and ultimately led to the swearing-in of President Dr. Irfaan Ali on August 2, 2020.

The recount confirmed that the PPP/C won the elections with 233,336 votes against the APNU+AFC coalition’s 217,920.

The initial elections results, announced by former CEO Lowenfield, claimed an APNU+AFC victory.

The APNU+AFC coalition received 171,825 votes, while the PPP/C received 166,343 votes, according to Lowenfield’s election report.

Following the PPP/C’s return to office in August 2020, criminal charges were filed against the defendants.

GECOM made the decision to terminate the contracts of Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo in August 2021, after the allegations of fraud came to light.

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the events of the 2020 General and Regional Elections have found that there were collusion and collaboration between senior GECOM officials to divert votes to the APNU +AFC instead of safeguarding and preserving the integrity of the electoral system.

Chairman Stanley John and commissioners — former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Carl Singh and Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith made these findings based on evidence from the many witnesses who testified along with the reports of the international observers.

“…our inquiry reveals that there were, in fact, shockingly brazen attempts by Lowenfield, Myers and Mingo to derail and corrupt the statutorily prescribed procedure for the counting, ascertaining and tabulation of votes of the March 2nd election, as well as the true declaration of the results of that election, and that they did so – to put it in unvarnished language of the ordinary man – for the purpose of stealing the election,” they said in their report.