Immigration and former immigration officers were cross-examined by defence attorneys Darren Wade and Eusi Anderson on Tuesday as the trial into alleged fraud surrounding Guyana’s 2020 General and Regional Elections continued at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
The questioning before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty focused on the officers’ roles in processing passport applications, their knowledge of the records presented in court, their recollection of events surrounding the investigation, and the procedures followed when applicants submitted documents.
Prosecutor and attorney-at-law Madana Rampersaud objected to certain questions posed to the officers during the proceedings.
The defence sought to examine the extent of the witnesses’ personal knowledge of the passport records, including whether they had directly interacted with the individuals concerned or were involved primarily in administrative processing.
Questions were also raised about the officers’ ability to recall events that occurred several years ago, the distinction between original documents and copies, and whether records had been handed over to investigators from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
The lawyers further explored the procedures followed at immigration offices, including the submission and verification of documents, payment of application fees and the role of data-entry personnel in processing passport applications.
The cross-examinations form part of the defence’s scrutiny of the evidence being presented by the prosecution, which is relying on passport records and handwriting comparisons to establish the authorship of signatures appearing on disputed election-related documents.
The passport evidence relates to former Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence, who served under the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, and former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield.
Detective Inspector Ameer Mohamed previously testified that signatures bearing Lawrence’s name on passport applications appeared to match the signature on a disputed Form 24 declaration dated March 5, 2020.
Immigration officer Odessa Isaacs McCaulay also testified about Lowenfield’s lost-passport application, identifying a signature he provided during the application process. The documents identified for comparison with Lowenfield include his passport application, an affidavit concerning his lost passport, and three election-related reports dated July 10, 11 and 31, 2020.
The defendants collectively face 19 charges, including conspiracy to defraud and misconduct in public office. All have pleaded not guilty and were released on cash bail.
The accused, including former senior GECOM officials and other individuals, have pleaded not guilty. Those on trial include Lowenfield, former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers, former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, Lawrence and People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) member Carol Smith-Joseph. Also, before the court are former GECOM employees Michelle Miller, Sheffern February, Enrique Livan and Denise Babb-Cummings.
The proceedings were adjourned until Wednesday morning, with further cross-examination of a witness expected at a subsequent hearing.
The election fraud trial centres on allegations surrounding the tabulation and declaration of results from the 2020 polls, a process that led to months of political uncertainty and legal battles, before a final declaration was made five months after election day.
The prosecution, led by King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhani, contends that the accused played critical roles in efforts to inflate votes in favour of the then APNU+AFC, while reducing votes cast for the PPP/C.
Following a five-month period of litigation and a Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-supervised national recount, the PPP/C was declared the winner of the elections with 233,336 votes to APNU+AFC’s 217,920. President Dr Irfaan Ali was subsequently sworn into office on August 2, 2020. The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the elections later concluded that there had been collusion and collaboration among senior GECOM officials to divert votes to APNU+AFC rather than safeguard the integrity of the electoral process.
