Region 4 Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, Deputy arrested over electoral fraud

Mere days after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ordered the Guyana Police Force to investigate reports of electoral fraud, controversial former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo was on Tuesday arrested and is being interrogated in relation to allegations levied against him.

In addition, his Deputy, Carolyn Duncan was also taken into custody. Guyana Times understands that Mingo was arrested at his Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara (ECD) home and escorted to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) where he is being grilled.
Mingo is being investigated for alleged criminal misconduct, after allegations were raised that he attempted to alter the March 2 elections results in favour of the former Administration – the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change coalition.
It was Mingo’s attempts to alter the results of the elections that led to the National Recount exercise which ultimately proved the major irregularities in figures being called by the Returning Officer when compared to the actual numbers of votes cast.
However, Mingo’s attorney, Darren Wade, who was in the compound, said his client’s phone was collected by law enforcement officers.
Nevertheless, other officials are being investigated, including the Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield – who is also currently facing private criminal fraud charges before the courts.

In a statement issued on Friday, the police said that “formal reports” were received that day, 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.
On March 2, the original counting of the ballots cast had proceeded smoothly and had been completed in nine (9) regions with the PPP/C in a commanding lead. But the tabulation of Statements of Poll (SoPs) was interrupted in District Four (Demerara-Mahaica) after Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo switched from the legal procedure – which ensures transparency – whereby each SoP had to be exhibited to the stakeholders present to enable comparison to their copies.
However, Mingo diverted to a procedure where the purported numbers from the SoPs were incorporated into a consolidated spreadsheet. This led to immediate calls for transparency from both local and international observers.
This led to the High Court case, when all the parties excepting APNU/AFC protested the sleight of hand that facilitated an inflation of the votes for that party.
Following the High Court’s decision, Mingo was ordered to revert to the prescribed procedure but he repeated his subterfuge in another guise and submitted totals that varied substantially from those of other parties and had the APNU/AFC ahead rather than the PPP/C.
The Chairwoman of GECOM, Retired Justice Claudette Singh, agreed to a recount of the votes, which had been proposed by caretaker President David Granger and agreed to by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo after an intervention by several Caricom leaders.
In June, the Region Four results gave the People’s Progressive Party/Civic a total victory margin of more than 15,400 votes over their nearest rivals, the APNU/AFC.
The difference was noted by the Head of the Electoral Observation Mission of the Organisation of American States (OAS) in Guyana, Bruce Golding, who had stated that he has never seen such a “transparent effort to alter the results of an election”. Moreover, it showed that the numbers produced by Mingo were heavily inflated to have a rigged win for the coalition.
On Monday morning, former Government Minister Volda Lawrence also appeared before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer to private criminal fraud charges.
Lawrence along with Mingo were charged in relation to the unverified declaration of results for Region Four. They were accused of forging official electoral documents in an effort to defraud the country. At that time, Mingo did not make a court appearance because he was never served.
The particulars of the charge stated that Mingo, having been procured by Lawrence on or about March 5 at the Command Centre for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on High and Hadfield Streets, uttered to the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, the election results for Region Four, knowing it to be forged, with intent to defraud the people of Guyana.
Lawrence is the Chairperson of the People’s National Congress Reform – the largest party in the APNU/AFC coalition which was refusing to accept electoral defeat and has been accused of attempting to undermine the will of the people.