Elections fraud trial continues with testimony from Sasenarine Singh

Trial in the 2020 elections fraud case continued on Monday morning at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty with the continuation of the testimony from People’s Progressive Party (PPP) elections agent Sasenarine Singh.

Singh had last testified in February when the case was adjourned. On Monday, the prosecution also noted that they will be making submissions in the voire dires. The trial currently has five voire dires, whereby the admissibility of several pieces of evidence is being determined.

The prosecution noted that they are expected to file at least two of the submissions in the voire dire by Friday.

During Singh’s testimony, several videos which he had recorded during his time at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Ashmin’s Building office were played and he explained what took place during the videos.

The defence also began cross examination of Singh, beginning with cross examination by attorney Nigel Hughes. Singh was questioned about the chain of command of the copies of the Statement of Polls (SOPs) that the PPP polling agents received from the respective Presiding Officers during the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

Singh recalled that he made notes about the details of the SOP that he received, but noted that he could not recall off hand what those details were. He said that he handed his notes over to a clerk at the party’s Freedom House Headquarters and signed a document acknowledging receipt of the document.

Nine persons are currently charged with conspiracy to commit electoral fraud in relation to the tabulation of votes for Region Four in the 2020 GRE.

They include former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowefield, former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers, former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Minister Volda Lawrence, APNU+AFC Chief Scrutineer Carol Joseph, and former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) employees Enrique Livan, Sheffern February, Michelle Miller, and Denise Bobb-Cummings.

Among the offences these defendants are accused of committing are: misconduct while holding public office; presenting falsified documentation; and planning to manipulate Guyana’s voters by presenting an inaccurate vote total. These charges stem from attempts to rig the 2020 Elections in favour of the then-ruling APNU+AFC.