Personal Assistant to former GECOM CEO dismissed

While the Elections Commission has not indicated the reason behind the firing, two Government nominated Commissioners, Sase Gunraj and Bibi Shadick claimed were quoted in other sections of the media as indicating that he was fired for allegedly tampering with computers of the Guyana Elections Commission.

Personal Assistant to former GECOM CEO dismissed

The Personal Assistant to the former Chief Election Officer, Duarte Hetsberger, has been fired from the position as the new Chief Election Officer, Vishnu Persaud, settles in his new job.

Hetsberger who is a GDF Reserve Officer was dismissed by the new CEO.

While the Elections Commission has not indicated the reason behind the firing, two Government nominated Commissioners, Sase Gunraj and Bibi Shadick were quoted in other sections of the media as indicating that he was fired for allegedly tampering with computers of the Guyana Elections Commission.

But Opposition nominated GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander said he believes there is an attempt to malign the fired employee.

Mr. Alexander said Hetsberger’s computer is not the place where GECOM’s records are kept, and therefore even if he deleted information on his computer, there can be no accusation of removing information which he was the custodian of.

He said there has been no accusation of any known or specific information being removed.

The GECOM Commissioner said he removed his presence from a GECOM meeting when he learned that the other two GECOM Commissioners were attempting to link the firing of the GECOM employee to computer tampering.

In September 2020, Hetsberger was arrested and questioned as part of the initial probe into allegations of fraud at the 2020 elections. However, he was released without ever being charged.

At the Local Government Elections in 2016 and 2018, Hetsberger served as the Returning Officer for the Georgetown elections.

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