Attorney General concerned about delays in trials of alleged 2020 election fraudsters; DPP asks Chancellor to assign magistrates

Last Updated on Tuesday, 9 January 2024, 17:36 by Denis Chabrol

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall on Monday expressed concern that magistrates have found reasons not to set trial dates for several then officials of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) who were accused of fraud in the 2020 general and regional elections.

“Magistrates after magistrates have found reasons that can’t withstand scrutiny for not proceeding to try these cases and other related cases,” he said during his 2023 review news conference.

He said the Director of Public Prosecutions, Attorney-at-Law Shalimar Hack two months ago wrote Chancellor of the Judiciary Yonette Cummings asking that magistrates be assigned to conduct the trials of the accused persons “until they are concluded.”

Saying that as the minister responsible for justice, he was exercising his right to observe that a number of magistrates have cited reasons to recuse themselves from the trials. “I cannot be pleased with this state of affairs, No decent-minded Guyanese can be pleased with this state of affairs,” he said.

Those charged include then GECOM Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield, then Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers; then Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo as well as other GECOM officials employees Sherfern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Bobb-Cummings and Michelle Miller. Also charged are People’s National Congress Reform members, Volda Lawrence and Carol Smith-Joseph.

He sought to assure Guyanese that the more than 30 charges were “not politically-driven or inspired” but were related to alleged misconduct of the election process that had drawn global condemnation.

The Attorney General warned that this year “we are going to be more open and more frank on these matters” as no one who is paid with public funds must be open to respectful scrutiny. “I am not attributing any ulterior motives to anyone. I am simply relating the facts as I know them,” he added.

A Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the March, 2020 general and regional elections was held, but several persons, including a number of the accused and police officers, refused to testify on the grounds that there were ongoing criminal court cases.