Volda Lawrence arrested, later released on bail as electoral fraud probe deepens

…expected to present self at CID HQ today for further questioning

Volda Lawrence and her Attorney, Nigel Hughes making their way into the Headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Eve Leary, Georgetown

As the Guyana Police Force (GPF) intensifies its probe into the aftermath of the March 2 General and Regional Elections, Former Health Minister Volda Lawrence was arrested on Tuesday after she presented herself at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, for questioning.
Lawrence, who is also an Executive Member of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC), was questioned in relation to her role in attempting to rig the March 2, 2020 Elections but was later released on $100,000 station bail and was expected to return today as investigations continued.
She was accompanied by Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes after she was invited in for questioning in relation to electoral fraud. The former Health Minister also served as her party’s Counting Agent for Electoral District Four (Demerara-Mahaica) during the elections.
Hughes told reporters that his client was arrested after she presented herself at the CID Headquarters. He related that the lead investigators, who requested Lawrence’s presence, were not present when she arrived at the CID Headquarters.
“Ms Lawrence has indicated that she believes that this is part of an orchestrated plan to detain her and all the other natural consequences of that. The offence in which she was arrested is in relation to activities that took place at the Splashmins Building (District Four Command Centre at the corner of High and Hadfield Streets, Georgetown) that led to an attempt to declare a fraudulent electoral result. I did attempt to contact the senior investigating officer and he did confirm that he is not here and I have no indication as to when anything further will be taken,” Hughes told the media earlier in the day.
He added that they offered to return since his client was readily available, but the officers at the CID Headquarters refused.
“We said in that case would you allow her to leave and come back when you are in a position to proceed with the investigation, because you did invite her to come here at this time and you are not in a position to proceed. The Inspector (Castello) indicated that she could not release her for that reason, and I did point out that Ms Lawrence is available on call and that was of no interest from them.
“It is clear they intend to detain her and that detention has no relationship as to the course of the conduct of the investigation…it appears as if nobody else can conduct the investigation. The basis upon which you should arrest and detain people is if custody is necessary to protect the investigation and at this stage the detention of Ms Lawrence certainly is not necessary either to protect the investigation. There has been no suggestion that she is likely to interfere with the course of the investigation,” the Attorney posited.
However, even as the Police investigations continue, Lawrence is already facing private criminal charges jointly with embattled Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo for forging electoral documents in favour of an APNU/AFC victory.
Back in March, Charles Ramson Jr, who had served as the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s Counting Agent, had filed private criminal charges against Mingo and Lawrence following the RO’s declaration of unverified results for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).
Lawrence was arraigned in August and placed on $100,000 bail. The matter is still pending in court. 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 them to be forged, with intent to defraud the people of Guyana.
GECOM, despite being barred by an injunction, went ahead and published the Form 24s [which are collectively the election declaration] for all regions on its website. These included the unverified declaration for Region Four – Guyana’s largest voting district.
Mingo’s declaration, which was subsequently set aside by acting Chief Justice Roxane George, was signed by himself and Lawrence – the lone representative from 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.
It was subsequently unearthed during the National Recount exercise that Mingo had heavily inflated the figures to give the then APNU/AFC incumbent a lead at the polls. However, the recount exercise showed that the PPP/C won the elections with 233,336 votes, while the coalition secured 217,920 votes.
As such, Mingo was charged by the Police and arraigned last month on four counts of misconduct in public office. He is currently on $600,000 bail. In addition, he is facing one private criminal charge jointly with Lawrence, for which he is currently out on self-bail. (Lakhram Bhagirat)