Mingo and others to return to court on January 28
Election fraud cases…
Division Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo.
Kaieteur News – On January 28, 2021, District Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo; Chairman of the National People’s Congress, Volda Lawrence; National Unity Partnership + Alliance for Change (APNU + AFC) activist, Carol Joseph-Smith is expected to make their next court appearance for the continuation of the electoral fraud cases.
The trio made their final court appearance on Dec. 21, 2020, at Georgetown Magistrates’ Court before Chief Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus.
Mingo and Lawrence face a joint charge, which alleged that on March 5, 2020, in Georgetown, with intent to defraud the public, they committed a fake forgery document, that is, a report purporting to be a true statement of all votes cast in District Four for the March 2, 2020 general and regional elections, knowing that report to be forged. Mingo also faced another charge in conjunction with Joseph-Smith. That accusation alleged that, on March 13, 2020, they presented a false document claiming to be a true report of all the votes cast in the March 2, 2020 general and regional elections in knowing that the report forged.
PNC Chairman, Volda Lawrence.
In addition, Smith-Joseph faced two individual charges, which, on March 13, 2020, at High and Hadfield Streets, she conspired with Mingo and others to declare a fraudulent account of votes for Class Four for the general and regional elections.
They denied the charges and Mingo was set on $ 60,000 bail for both charges; Lawrence was placed on $ 30,000 bail for the joint charge he is facing. Meanwhile, Smith-Joseph was set on $ 90,000 total bail for all three charges.
The trio is represented by attorney-in-law, Nigel Hughes and Ronald Daniels. Meanwhile, the issues are being prosecuted by a team of special prosecutors, attorneys-at-law, Glenn Hanoman; George Thomas; Mark Conway and Ganesh Hera.
On October 28, 2020, the special prosecutors team presented to the court a fiat they received from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, granting them the legal right to prosecute the trio.
APNU + AFC Executive, Carol Joseph-Smith.
The Member of Parliament (MP) and attorney-in-law, Sanjeev Datadin, were initially on the fiat. Hughes made objections to Datadin being part of the special prosecution team, as he was MP for the Progressive People / Civic Party (PPP / C) and by giving him the responsibility to prosecute the issue of a very political nature, meant that his clients would not get a fair trial.
However, during November 2020, Datadin wrote a letter to the DPP withdrawing himself from the special prosecution team, saying he does not want to be a source of delay in the issues.
Kaieteur News had reported that some other issues had also been discovered on the fiat and the fiat was sent back to the DPP for correction. The fiat has since been corrected and the issues are currently ongoing.
Kaieteur News had reported that on August 31, 2020, Mingo had been slapped with four individual charges alleging he misconstrued himself in public office by failing to disclose the number of votes counted during the March 2 General and Regional Elections , 2020. He was placed on $ 600,000 bail for those charges.
On September 11, Mingo and Lawrence were slapped with a joint charge, which Mingo claimed, after being acquired by Lawrence on or about March 5, 2020 at the Guyana Election Commission Control Center (GECOM) on High and Hadfield Streets. to the Returning Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, knowing the results of the election for Region Four, knowing that it had been forged, with the intention of deceiving the people of Guyana.
Police announced last August that they will be conducting a comprehensive investigation into Lowenfield’s criminal behavior; Division Four Returning Officer, Mingo; and others in relation to the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections and the events that followed.
During the ongoing probe, several GECOM officers were arrested and put to court for electoral fraud charges.