Lawrence, Mingo, Joseph electoral fraud cases adjourned to Dec 21

Attempts to rig election

PNCR Chairperson Volda Lawrence, embattled Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo and Elections Agent for the APNU/AFC, Carol Joseph, on Wednesday made another appearance at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
The trio have been charged individually and jointly for forgery and conspiracy to defraud in relation to the events that followed the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

At Wednesday’s hearing, the prosecution presented the fiat for permission from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for the special prosecutors to prosecute these matters.
However, defence attorney Ronald Daniels told reporters following the hearing that there were some issues with the document that have to be corrected.
“The court observed that the fiat did not spell out in particular the different offences by way of the case jackets and case jacket numbers that the DPP was granting permission to the prosecutors to prosecute. So, the court invited that that be corrected before the prosecutors have any jurisdiction in the court,” he related.
Daniels added that the prosecutors had invited the court to hear the matters summarily; that is, to have the matters disposed of in the Magistrate’s Court. But he noted that the Court did not entertain this request since the prosecutors who appeared do not have jurisdiction as yet.
Meanwhile, Attorney Daniels on Wednesday also reiterated concerns over Member of Parliament for the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic, Attorney Sanjeev Datadin, being appointed one of the special prosecutors in this matter.
This issue was first raised last week by Attorney Nigel Hughes.
However, Datadin, in dismissing the objections against him being a prosecutor last week, said the objections have no merit. He had pointed out that there are five other prosecutors listed as well, hence “the risks that they are complaining of is really nothing.”
The matters have been adjourned to December 21.
Last week, Lawrence was slapped with an additional charge of forgery, while Mingo and Joseph were jointly charged with one count of forgery. They are each also facing two counts of conspiracy to defraud.
They were each granted bail in the sum of $30,000 on each charge.
While these are Smith-Joseph’s first set of charges in relation to electoral fraud, both Lawrence and Mingo have been charged previously, in some cases jointly, for attempting to rig the March 2 elections.
On October 14, Lawrence was slapped with two counts of conspiracy to defraud charges and was released on $50,000 bail on each charge.
The PNC Chair is already facing private criminal charges jointly with Mingo for forging electoral documents in an effort to defraud the country. She was arraigned in August on that charge and placed on $100,000 bail.
In addition to the private criminal charge for which he is out on self-bail, Mingo is also charged by the Police for four counts of misconduct in public office. He is currently on $600,000 bail in relation to those matters.
The Police Force is currently probing allegations of attempts to rig the March 2 elections after receiving “formal reports” back in August. Already, the Police have arrested and charged several staff at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for the role they played in the events after the March 2 polls.
In addition to Mingo, Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield and Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO) Roxanne Myers are also facing electoral fraud charges brought by the State.
The CEO was also before the court in relation to three private criminal charges: conspiracy to defraud, misconduct in public office, and breach of public trust. But these charges were withdrawn last week by the DPP.