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DPP writes Chancellor urging speedy trial of electoral fraud cases
– AG concerned about lag in Magistrate’s Court
Kaieteur News – The sloth in the handling of the electoral fraud cases from the 2020 General and Regional Elections has prompted the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, S.C, to make an appeal to the Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards to intervene.
This was revealed by Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall, S.C on Monday, during his press conference. Nandlall said, “I am aware that the Director of Public Prosecutions has written to the Chancellor of the Judiciary, requesting her intervention. The Chancellor has a supervisory authority over Magistrates in the country.”
The Attorney General disclosed that hopefully the Chancellor’s involvement will expedite the cases and potentially designate specific Magistrates to preside over the election fraud cases. Nandlall expressed dismay over the prolonged duration of the cases which are at the Magistracy level and deemed the slothful pace as a disservice to the nation.
Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall, S.C.
“After three years, those charges have not been able to secure a trial date. Now I am the Minister of Justice. I cannot be pleased with this state of affairs. No decent-minded Guyanese can be pleased with this state of affairs…These are charges that relate to misconduct of the electoral process by persons who have been appointed and paid by the taxpayers of this country, to manage that process and ensure that the process meets the imperative of transparency, legality and fairness,” Nandlall said.
Nandlall criticized the handling of the matter and drew comparisons to the proceedings against senior officials in the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) were charged, in contrast to the ongoing delays of the electoral fraud cases and the trend of Magistrates recusing themselves from the cases.
Following an investigation into the March 2020 General and Regional Elections and the events that followed, several former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials and others were criminally charged for allegedly attempting to rig the elections. Over 20 electoral fraud-related charges were brought against former GECOM Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers, Clairmont Mingo, Opposition members, Volda Lawrence, and Smith-Joseph. Also, GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Bobb-Cummings and Michelle Miller, are also before the court facing electoral fraud charges.
Notably, in December, Senior Magistrate Leron Daly scheduled January 15, 2024 to fix a date for a case management conference for the electoral fraud cases.
The state’s legal teams are led by Darshan Ramdhani, QC, and comprises of attorneys-at-law Glen Hanoman, Arudranauth Gossai, Ganesh Hira, Mark Conway and George Thomas; while Attorneys-at-law Nigel Hughes, Ronald Daniels, Eusi Anderson, and Konyo Sandiford are representing the defendants.
According to reports, the state’s case 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 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.
Miller was slapped with a separate charge which allege that between March 3 and 5, 2020, at the GECOM Command Centre at Ashmin’s building on High and Hadfield Streets, Georgetown, she conspired with others to defraud the people of Guyana by not using the figures from the Statements of Poll (SOP) 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. Notably, there are other individual charges against some of the defendants.
- Anil Nandlall, Attorney General (AG), Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), S.C., Shalimar Ali-Hack
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