SOPs, SORs disclosed, trial to commence in December

Oct 12, 2021 News

Elections fraud cases…

Kaieteur News – A canter load of Statements of Polls (SOPs) and Statements of Recount (SORs) were yesterday disclosed to seven persons charged with electoral fraud. The matter was adjourned to October 17, 2021, for report and trial is slated to commence in December 2021.

Michelle Miller.

Denise Bab-Cummings.

The defendants in the matter that was called yesterday are: Chairperson of the People’s National Congress (PNC), Volda Lawrence, former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) activist, Carol Smith-Joseph, GECOM’s Information Technology Officer – Enrique Livan and GECOM Clerks: Michelle Miller, Sheffern February and Denise Bab-Cummings.
The matter was called in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan. While the defendants appeared virtually, the prosecution appeared in court.
Moreover, attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes, who is representing Mingo, Lawrence and Smith-Joseph, was present in court while attorney-at-law Eusi Anderson, who is representing the other defendants, appeared virtually.

Sheffern February.

APNU+AFC activist, Carol Smith-Joseph.

When the matter was called, attorney-at-law Darshan Ramdhani, who is representing the State, informed the court that he has brought the SOPs and SORs to court and that he is ready to serve them on the defendants. He further stated that there are several boxes sitting in a canter outside of the court, containing the SOPs and SORs for all 10 Regions. The prosecution also handed over other statements and video evidence to the defence and the court.
On October 17, 2021, the matter will be called for a report and this will then pave the way for the trial to commence.
Earlier this year, the Chief Magistrate had ruled on the mode of trial for Lawrence, Mingo and Smith-Joseph’s court matter. The Magistrate had ruled that the matter will be tried summarily.
Kaieteur News had reported that the defence attorneys had asked the court for the matters to be tried indictably, which means, that a preliminary inquiry (PI) will be conducted in the Magistrates’ Courts and if sufficient evidence is found, the matter will then be sent to be tried before a Judge and Jury in the High Court.

Former GECOM Region Four RO, Clairmont Mingo.

Enrique Livan.

However, the special prosecuting team objected to the matter being tried indictably and had asked the court for the matters to be tried summarily, which means, that the matter will be tried and disposed of in the Magistrates’ Courts.
The Chief Magistrate had then ordered both the prosecution and the defence attorneys to make their submissions, and had set a date for the ruling on the mode of trial. This resulted in her ruling in favour of the prosecution, thus the matter will be tried in the Magistrates’ Courts as opposed to going to the High Court for trial.
Some of the charges the defendants are facing are misconduct in public office, conspiracy to commit fraud, forging a document and forgery.

PNC Chairperson, Volda Lawrence.

Mingo faces a joint charge with Lawrence, another with Smith-Joseph and two separate joint forgery charges. In addition to the joint charge with Mingo, Smith-Joseph also faces two individual charges.Moreover, Livan, who was named in a USB flash drive scandal surrounding the tabulations of votes that happened on March 5, 2020, was slapped with one fraud charge, and February, another GECOM employee, is facing two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. Miller and Bab-Cummings, who are GECOM clerks, were both slapped with two fraud charges each.
The police had announced in August 2020, that they will be conducting a comprehensive investigation into the criminal conduct of former Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield, former Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Myers, Mingo and others, in relation to the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections and the events that followed. During the ongoing probe, several GECOM officials were arrested and placed before the court for electoral fraud.

The boxes with the SOPs and SORs at court yesterday.

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