Electoral fraud case adjourned to December; Defendants provided with evidence to be used

Chairman of the People’s National Congress Volda Lawrence along with party activist Carol Joseph Smith, former GECOM Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo and four GECOM staffers are before the Court accused of electoral fraud.

Electoral fraud case adjourned to December; Defendants provided with evidence to be used

The electoral fraud case stemming from allegations of fraud at the 2020 elections has been adjourned to the 17th December.

During a hearing today before the Chief Magistrate, the Prosecutor Darshan Ramdhani turned over the statements of poll and statements of recount along with other pieces of evidence to the Court so that they could be perused by Attorneys for the defendants in the matter.

The Prosecutor initially raised some concern about the safety of the documents expressing fears of tampering.

However, the Chief Magistrate assured that the Clerk of the Courts will be in charge of the documents.

While the matter was being heard this morning, a canter truck with boxloads of the documents was parked just outside the Court’s compound.

The documents involve thousands of copies of official election documents.

Chairman of the People’s National Congress Volda Lawrence along with party activist Carol Joseph Smith, former GECOM Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo and four GECOM staffers are before the Court accused of electoral fraud.

They have repeatedly declared their innocence.

It is expected that by the next time the matter is called, the Defence will be in receipt of all the evidence to be presented to the Court during trial.

The matter is being heard summarily.

Following the 2020 General and Regional Elections, allegations of fraud surfaced after some of the results being announced for Region 4 did not match results that some of the participating parties had in their possession.

The claims of fraud led to a recount that took several weeks and the Court eventually ruled that the recount will be used to declare the winner of the elections.

The vote numbers during the recount differed from some of the vote numbers during the original count, especially in the Region 4 area. There were also a number of other discrepancies that were discovered during the recount.

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