People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Chairperson Volda Lawrence is scheduled to report to the police today in connection with the ongoing investigation surrounding the events of the March 2nd General and Regional elections.
Lawrence was initially invited to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Eve Leary on Saturday afternoon to answer to allegations stemming from the probe. However, that visit was aborted at the last minute.
While no reason was cited for this, Stabroek News was informed that Lawrence was asked to report to the police yesterday morning instead. However, that did not happen and Lawrence is now required to present herself to the police during the course of today.
Lawrence is already facing a criminal charge of uttering a forged document related to the polls.
She was previously charged alongside District Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo for allegedly uttering a forged document with intent to defraud the public contrary to Section 278 of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act.
More than a month ago, the police announced that they had launched an investigation into the March elections and the events that occurred during the ensuing five months up to when President Irfaan Ali was declared the winner on August 2nd.
Since then, a number of individuals, including several Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials have faced charges stemming from their alleged involvement in the manipulation of the elections results.
The most recent to be arrested as part of the investigation was Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers, who was eventually charged with two counts of misconduct in public office.
Apart from Mingo and Myers, Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, GECOM clerk Sheffern February, and GECOM Information Technology Officer Enrique Livan have been charged.
The opposition APNU+AFC in a statement issued ahead of the scheduled meeting on Saturday between the police and Lawrence had accused the police of intensifying “psychological terrorism” on the leadership of the APNU+AFC coalition by asking Lawrence to present herself to CID at 4.15 pm Saturday.
However, the police later rejected this claim and said the time was agreed on to accommodate Lawrence’s lawyer.
In a statement, police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Royston Andries-Junor said that investigators contacted Lawrence’s lawyer, Nigel Hughes, and invited her to the CID Headquarters to put an allegation to her in relation to the elections investigation.
Hughes, the police said, initially indicated that Lawrence would be there for 10am on Saturday but later requested that they exercise their discretion and permit him to bring Lawrence at 4pm on Saturday instead.
The request was granted. “The police investigators had no difficulty in acceding to the Attorney’s request and so the time for Ms. Lawrence to report to the CID location in the company of her Attorney was duly re-scheduled as requested,” the GPF explained
“It is evident that there is a plan to detain Ms. Lawrence as others have been detained previously,” APNU+AFC further charged, while maintaining that Lawrence, who has been placed on bail, has dutifully attended court as required and complied with all requirements. “The charges against her are baseless, spurious and trumped up,” the coalition had said.
