Chartered accountant testifies to over 20K vote discrepancy for APNU+AFC in Reg 4

Election fraud trial

A chartered accountant on Friday testified that his comparison of certified Statements of Poll (SoPs) with two Form 24 declarations for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) revealed significant differences in the votes recorded for the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) at the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections (GRE).

Terrence Jaskaran, who was attached to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters as a forensic audit consultant, testified before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts in the ongoing election fraud trial.
Jaskaran, who was engaged by the Home Affairs Ministry as a forensic audit consultant, was led in evidence by lead prosecutor King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhani.
He was subsequently accepted by the court as an expert in forensic accounting and forensic analysis. Jaskaran told the court that he was asked by Police Officer Nigel Stephens on May 25, 2021, to conduct a tabulation and analysis of certified copies of SoPs from the 2020 GRE and compare them with the declarations on Form 24.
He later accompanied Stephens and Police prosecutor Moore to the office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Judicature, where copies of the Region Four Statements of Poll were made and certified. The witness said he observed the copying and certification process.
The accountant said he began his analysis on June 3, 2021, at CID headquarters.
He further explained that he created Excel spreadsheets, recorded the votes appearing on each Statement of Poll according to ballot box number and political party, calculated the totals, and then compared those totals with the corresponding figures on Form 24. Any differences were highlighted and recorded in his report.
The accountant said he completed the exercise on July 28, 2021, and prepared a report containing his analysis. Three copies were printed, with two submitted to Police Officers and another retained by him in a secure office file.

When Jaskaran reached Region Four, he told the court that, unlike the other regions, he had been provided with two Form 24 declarations. He said one was dated March 5, 2020, while the other was dated March 13, 2020, and he compared the certified SoPs against each declaration separately.
In his analysis of the Region Four results for the March 2, 2020, General Election, Jaskaran testified that the certified SoPs recorded 116,215 votes for the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC).
He said this differed from the 136,458 votes recorded for APNU+AFC on the March 5, 2020, Form 24 declaration, representing a variance of 20,243 votes.
Jaskaran said the certified SoPs recorded 116,215 votes for APNU+AFC, compared with 136,057 votes on the Form 24 declaration dated March 13, 2020 – a difference of 19,842 votes.
Jaskaran also testified that the SoPs recorded 80,288 votes for the People’s Progressive Party (PPP/C), compared with 77,329 votes in the March 5 Form 24 declaration, representing 2959 fewer votes in the declaration.
Jaskaran’s evidence was specifically focused on the numerical comparison between the certified SoPs and the Form 24 declarations. When the report was tendered, the court indicated that the evidence would not go beyond those comparisons.
His evidence was cut short at that stage, with the matter adjourned until Monday, when he is expected to continue his testimony on the March 13 Form 24 declaration and the corresponding PPP/C figures.
The trial had earlier heard that then Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo made the Region Four declarations on March 5 and March 13, 2020.
Jaskaran holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from the University of Derby and a master’s in Business Administration from Bakke Graduate University in the United States. He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in the United Kingdom, a member of the Forensic Certified Public Accountant Society in the United States, and a practising chartered accountant and registered member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Guyana.
He said he became a member of ACCA in 2011 and a fellow member in 2016, while he obtained membership in the Forensic Certified Public Accountant Society in 2016. He also said he obtained his practice licence from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Guyana in 2015.
Those on trial include former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers, former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Minister Volda Lawrence, and former APNU/AFC Chief Scrutineer Carol Smith-Joseph.
The other accused are former GECOM employees Enrique Livan, Sheffern February, Michelle Miller, and Denise Bobb-Cummings. All defendants have pleaded not guilty and posted cash bail.
The prosecution, led by King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhani, alleged that the nine accused conspired to manipulate the tabulation of votes in Region Four and ultimately declare a false result in favour of the APNU/AFC. It further alleged that the accused inflated the coalition’s votes, reduced those of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), and departed from the prescribed process for ascertaining the results.