Personal Assistant to the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Duarte Hetsberger, who was detained by Police in relation to a probe into electoral fraud, was on Friday released on $100,000 bail after his 72-hour detention period had expired.
Personal Assistant to the Chief Elections Officer, Duarte Hetsberger
This was confirmed by Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum on Friday, who also stated that even though Hetsberger was released on bail, he has to report to the Criminal Investigative Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary today.
This, he noted, is to continue their ongoing investigations. Hetsberger was taken into custody on Tuesday last for questioning as the ongoing electoral fraud probe continues – an investigation the DPP ordered.
To date, at least three staff members of the Elections Commission (GECOM) were charged for fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.
These include Registration Officer Sheffaun February; Information Technology (IT) Officer Enrique Livan and embattled Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, who is at the centre of the allegations.
The three were arraigned on Monday last at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, and were placed on bail.
In addition to the four charges filed by the Police against him, Mingo is also facing private criminal charges, along with People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Chairperson Volda Lawrence, in relation to the unverified declaration of results for Region Four.
Lawrence appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts last week and was placed on bail.
Meanwhile, two other GECOM employees, Carolyn Duncan and Michelle Miller, both Registration Officers, were also taken in for questioning but no charges have been instituted against them.
These arrests stemmed after allegations were levelled against CEO, Keith Lowenfield and RO Mingo in the blatant attempts to rig the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
The police had stated, “formal reports” were received alleging “criminal conduct” by Lowenfield and Mingo as well as others in relation to the elections and the events that followed thereafter.
“As a result, legal advice was obtained from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), and the Guyana Police Force was advised to launch a comprehensive investigation into these allegations” in accordance with its mandate.
However, Lowenfield was already slapped with private criminal charges for fraud, misconduct in office, and breach of public trust, which were filed by private citizens Josh Kanhai and Desmond Morian. He is currently on $450,000 bail.
But Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Ali-Hack has indicated that in the exercise of powers vested in her under Article 187 of the Constitution, she would take over the private criminal charges currently pending against Lowenfield in the Magistrates’ Courts.
Following an almost flawless polling day, the tabulation of the results for Region Four – Guyana’s largest voting district – became a matter of controversy after RO Mingo declared unverified results for the region.
The declaration made by Mingo, which was subsequently set aside by Chief Justice Roxane George, was signed by Lawrence – the lone representative of the political parties that contested the elections. The other parties had objected to the declaration after the verification process was not fully complied with by the RO. Even the election observation missions had rejected the declaration, saying that the results lacked credibility and transparency.
It was Mingo’s attempts to alter the results of the elections that led to the National Recount, which ultimately proved the major differences in the figures being called by the RO and those representing the actual numbers of votes cast.
The 33-day recount exercise, agreed to by then President David Granger and then Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, confirmed that the PPP/C won with 233,336 votes.
