Acting Chief Justice takes responsibility for delayed election fraud case

The long-delayed election corruption case has been officially transferred to a new judge, necessitating a new start to the trial.

On Friday, Acting Chief Justice Faith Mc Gusty announced she was assuming control of the case and scheduled a case management conference (CMC) for Wednesday, November 6, 2024, at the Georgetown Magistrates Courts.

The CMC will start at 14:00 to facilitate preparations for the resumption of the hearing.

The reassignment of the case was necessary due to the extended medical leave of the previous judge, Leron Daly, who was unable to perform his duties due to ongoing health problems.

The trial, which first began on July 29, 2024, has faced numerous delays and hurdles since the charges were first filed in late 2020.

It was originally scheduled to resume on August 7, 2024, but was postponed after Judge Daly was granted a 30-day medical leave, resulting in the next scheduled hearing being postponed to September 17, 2024. However, due to Daly’s continuing health problems, Judge Mc Gusty informed the court at that time that the hearing should be postponed to November 1, 2024 for reports.

At the time, the Magistrate emphasized the importance of considering whether Daly would be fit to preside over the case if his health did not improve.

Mc Gusty stated that if his situation did not change, there was a possibility that the hearing would be transferred to another judge.

The defendants in this case include former Fourth District (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo; Volda Lawrence, former health minister under the Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government; PNC/R activist Carol Smith-Joseph; Keith Lowenfield, former Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Electoral Commission (GECOM); former Vice Presidential Electoral Officer Roxanne Myers; and GECOM employees Sheffern Feb, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings and Michelle Miller.

Collectively, they face 19 conspiracy charges related to alleged election fraud. All the defendants have denied the charges and are currently out on bail. The defense team includes solicitors Nigel Hughes, Ronald Daniels, Eusi Anderson and Darren Wade.

The prosecution includes King’s Advocate Darshan Ramdhani, lawyer Latchmie Rahamat and several state advisors from the Public Prosecution Service.

According to the State’s lawsuit, the defendant allegedly conspired to defraud voters by submitting inflated vote counts for District Four, Guyana’s largest voting district, in favor of the APNU+AFC coalition, undermining Guyana’s democratic process.

The prosecution built its case on a significant amount of evidence, including flash drives containing Survey Statements (SoPs) and Recount Statements (SoRs), testimony from 80 witnesses, and numerous official documents. Witnesses include high-profile figures such as Local Government Minister Sonia Parag, Diaspora Unit head Rosalinda Rasul, Forensic Investigator Rawle Nedd and former Fourth District Police Commander Edgar Thomas.

Reportedly altered election results released by Lowenfield showed APNU+AFC winning with 171,825 votes to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C) 166,343 votes.

However, a subsequent recount overseen by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) team and GECOM overturned the result and revealed a PPP/C victory by more than 15,000 votes.

The recount clearly showed that the PPP/C received 233,336 votes, while the coalition received 217,920 votes. GECOM decided to dismiss Lowenfield, Myers and Mingo in August 2021 after allegations of fraud emerged. Many welcomed this decision.