By Readawne Henery
Clairmont Mingo, GECOM’s District Four Returning Officer and two other elections workers were yesterday granted bail at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on indictable charges of fraud surrounding the controversial March 2nd general elections.
Mingo was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan where he was charged with four counts of intentionally misconducting himself in public office by failing to disclose the numbers that were counted for the contesting parties. Mingo had been accused during the elections of reading fraudulent numbers from a spreadsheet.
He was not required to plead to the indictable charge and was granted bail of $150,000 on each of the four charges.
His attorney, Nigel Hughes later told reporters that Mingo was required to lodge his passport with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters and report to Mitchell Caesar, Head of the CID at Eve Leary every Friday at 9am.
State counsel Teriq Mohammed had asked that Mingo be remanded to custody. He made objections to bail on the grounds that former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding who headed the Organisation of American States (OAS) team to the March 2nd general elections had made a statement about the elections. In his statement, Golding had cited clear fraud by Mingo.
Another objection to bail related to the gravity of the offence and the concern that Mingo would try to tamper with or approach members of the police investigating team and persons who are to submit statements.
Hughes told reporters that upon inquiry from the Magistrate in relation to the status of the investigation, it was stated that the probe was not yet complete and that there are 21 more witnesses to be interviewed.
He said that there was no apparent reason why his client had been detained by the police since last Thursday.
Attorney-at-law Darren Wade, who is also representing Mingo, said they are still unaware as to who made the allegations against Mingo.
The next hearing is set for September 25th, 2020.
Sheffern February, a clerk employed with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was yesterday granted bail in the sum of $300,000.
February who also made her appearance before the Chief Magistrate was charged with two counts of attempting to defraud the people of Guyana.
Those charges stated that while in the position of a clerk she read incorrect numbers from the statements of poll during the March 2020 election. The charges are identical but pertain to the regional and general elections. February was also not required to plead. She is expected to make her next appearance on September 25th, 2020.
Enrique Livan, an Information Technology officer attached to GECOM, was also brought before the court on a charge of manipulating the numbers of the statements of poll that were recorded in the system so that they reflected fraudulent numbers for District Four. He was granted bail in the sum of $150,000 on the single charge.
Livan who also appeared before the Chief Magistrate was not required to plead to the charge.
State counsel Mohammed’s objection to bail was overruled by the Magistrate.
February and Livan were represented by attorneys-at-law Latoya Roberts and Eusi Anderson.
Anderson later told reporters that Livan was still awaiting the release of his cellular phone and his car which were said to be at the police Criminal Investigation Department.
He noted that he intends to dispatch a letter to the Commissioner of Police and expects that the appropriate thing will be done to assist them with the urgent release of Livan’s personal effects. He is to return to court on September 25th, 2020, when the matter will be called again.
Livan was arrested on Thursday. He was at the centre of a flash drive controversy at the Ashmins building on March 4th where GECOM’s District Four office was located. On the morning of March 4, the police had conducted a public interrogation of Livan at the tabulation centre at the Ashmins building after a party agent claimed they saw him entering data from a “flash drive onto a spreadsheet” outside the scrutiny of party representatives and observers.
Sixty-nine-year-old Mingo was arrested on August 25th, at his residence at Little Abary, Mahaicony and transported to the Criminal Investigation Department at Eve Leary. He is one of two named defendants in the private criminal charges filed on March 13 by Charles Ramson Jr. in relation to the controversial results for District Four.
His co-defendant, PNCR Chair Volda Lawrence was last week Monday placed on $100,000 bail after appearing before the Chief Magistrate. Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield is also the subject of a similar investigation.
Mingo had been accused by party agents of reading fictional numbers from a spreadsheet and making two false declarations for District Four.
The Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions has taken over prosecution of the matter.
The charges against Mingo and the others constitute a major development in the five-month delay in the declaration of the result of the March 2nd general elections amid claims that they were attempting to rig the elections in favour of the former incumbent APNU+AFC. The dispute over the District Four count led to a painstaking 35-day recount scrutinized by CARICOM, the Organisation of American States and local observers. The recount determined that the PPP/C had won the elections.
