Lowenfield’s assistant remains in custody as probe into electoral fraud intensifies

Personal Assistant to the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Duarte Hetsberger, is still in custody as the Police Force continues to probe allegations of electoral fraud committed at the March 2 poll.
During the 2020 elections, repeated attempts were made to alter the results of the election in favour of the APNU/AFC Coalition, even though the PPP/C was the clear winner.

Hetsberger, who served as the Personal Assistant to Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, was taken into custody on Tuesday for questioning as the ongoing electoral fraud probe continues.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum on Thursday confirmed to  Guyana Times that Hetsberger remains in custody as the investigation continues. And it is likely that the Police would approach the High Court for more time to detain Hetsberger, since the 72-hour detention period will soon expire.
Already, several staff members of the Elections Commission have been hauled in for questioning, with three of them being placed before the court on fraud charges. 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 at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, 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 was arraigned last week at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, and was placed on bail during her arraignment.
Meanwhile, the two other GECOM staffers who were also taken in for questioning are Carolyn Duncan and Michelle Miller – both Registration Officers. So far, no charges have been instituted against them.
These arrests were made after the Guyana Police Force commenced an investigation into the role played by CEO Lowenfield and RO Mingo in the blatant attempts to rig the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
The Police had stated that “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 – become 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 also 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.