Magistrate orders PI in GECOM’s Roxanne Myers case

Senior Magistrate, Leron Daly on Thursday ruled that the two counts of misconduct in public office charges against Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Roxanne Myers are to remain indictable.

During a hearing at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, Magistrate Daly upheld a submission made by Myers’ attorney, Nigel Hughes who wanted the charges to remain indictable.

This means that the magistrate will conduct a Preliminary Inquiry (PI) to determine if there is enough evidence for Myers to stand trial at the High Court.

But attorney, Ganesh Hira, told the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will be appealing the ruling of the magistrate and an update will be provided to the court on March 9, 2021.

On October 9, 2020, Myers was arraigned in the Magistrates’ Court on the two offences and was released on $300,000 bail.  Myers was arrested on October 6, 2020, after she turned herself in at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, in the company of her attorneys.

The Guyana Police Force had said Myers turned herself in after a full month during which several efforts were made by the police to contact her in relation to incidents that occurred post-March 2, 2020 general and regional elections.

The Guyana Police Force in August last year had launched a comprehensive investigation into allegations of criminal conduct by GECOM officials in relation to the March 2 polls and the events that followed.

The Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield and Returning Officer of Region Four, Clairmont Mingo are also facing criminal charges in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court relating to electoral fraud by providing results of the March 2 elections known to be false.

The officials, who remain employees of GECOM, are accused of providing fraudulent results of the elections in the largest voting district – Region Four.

This led to a delay in the declaration of the results of the election and a national vote recount before the People’s Progressive Party was declared the winner five months later.

Mingo is also before the court with Chairman of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) Volda Lawrence on another electoral fraud charge. Their signatures were found on one of the Region Four declarations which was found to be inflated in favour of her party.