The Election Fraud Case commenced this week for a second time, with the Prosecution presenting American Chamber of Commerce-Guyana (AMCHAM) Observer, Rosalinda Rasul as its first witness.

The case has also seen prominent Attorney, Dr. Dexter Todd, joining the defense team and another prominent Attorney, Latchie Rahamat joining the Prosecution.

Rasul took the stand on Tuesday as the trial started afresh before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty.

As she re-entered the witness box, Ms. Rasul told the Court that during the course of the 2020 General Elections, the election officials on the ground abandoned the use of Statements of Poll and opted for a spreadsheet.

She testified that she witnessed numbers being called out by GECOM staff that did not match the numbers on the corresponding documents that were in the possession of party agents, triggering loud protests. Ms. Rasul testified that many of the complaints were ignored and the GECOM staff conducting the process continued with their presentation of “incorrect” numbers.

During her testimony, she also revealed additional details, resulting in the Defense team objecting and claiming that the details were not in her official statement to the Court.

Attorney-at-Law, Nigel Hughes, who forms part of the Defense team, told News Source that while being cross-examined on Wednesday, Rasul provided the Court with information never disclosed before.

“She admitted in cross-examination that all the new information that she gave in Court today (Wednesday), which was not in her statement was provided to the Prosecutors on several occasions, and the Prosecutors refused to take a statement from her with that information,” Hughes said.

Rasul provided a list of names that were reportedly never featured in her statement along with information about what the conduct of those individuals during the course of the tabulation process.

The Court was told that while she formed part of the AMCHAM Election Observer team, she could not say whether the local organization had submitted a report to GECOM on its observations. She also testified that she was not familiar with the scope of duties for the Chief Elections Officer and the Deputy Chief Elections Officer. The former GECOM CEO and Deputy CEO are among the defendants in the case.

Outside of the testimony of Ms. Rasul, there was an exchange between the Prosecution and the Defense over Attorney Dexter Todd joining the Defence team. State Prosecutor Latchmi Rahamat told the Court that Todd had been involved in the preparation of the case back in 2020.

However, it was pointed out by the Defence that the case that had Todd’s involvement was withdrawn and is not the current case. Todd told the Court that during the preparation of the case that was withdrawn, he was only involved in preliminary meetings, while noting that the Special Prosecutor, Latchmie Rahamat, was actually involved as part of an investigating team while now serving as a Prosecutor.

Rahamat told the Court that she was not an investigating officer, and therefore the issue of conflict of interest does not arise. The case will move on with both Rahamat and Todd joining as Attorneys for the two different sides.

 The defendants in the matter are former Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy Chief Election Officer, Roxanne Myers; and former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, along with Opposition Member of Parliament, Volda Lawrence, People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) Member Carol Smith-Joseph, and Election Officers Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Bobb-Cummings and Michelle Miller.

The nine accused are facing 19 conspiracy charges relating to an alleged attempt to declare fraudulent results during the 2020 Elections. They have all declared their innocence, and have pleaded not guilty.

The trial, which commenced last year, came to a sudden end after the then presiding Magistrate fell it.

It was subsequently taken over by the Acting Chief Magistrate. After two days of testimony, the matter has been adjourned until the 17th March.

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