‘Flash drive’ Livan refuses to testify at elections inquiry

Enrique Livan, the Guyana Elections Elections Commission (GECOM) Information Technology (IT) officer who was implicated in doctoring votes for District Four during the March 2020 General and Regional Elections, on Monday refused to testify before the ongoing elections inquiry.

Because he is before the courts on criminal charges for electoral fraud, the Commission was reminded that Livan has a right not to potentially implicate him at the inquiry.

Justice of the Appeal (retired) of Turks and Caicos Stanley John, who chairs the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the elections, acknowledged Livan’s right to silence.

Commissioner and former Chancellor of the Judiciary (Guyana) Carl Singh, however, told Livan that the CoI has evidence before it that he (Livan) has been identified in certain concerning events at the Ashmin’s building (the elections headquarters) on March 5, 2020.

Livan acknowledged that there is evidence at the Commission implicating him in fraudulent activities.

He, however, said, “I wish to remain silent.”

Livan was involved in a “flash drive” scandal on March 5 at the Ashmin’s Building in Georgetown during the plot to derail the electoral process.

He is alleged to have worked alongside the Returning Officer of Region Four, Clairmont Mingo, to inflate figures from the March polls to give the APNU+AFC a victory. The inflated vote counts were kept on a flash drive and presented via spreadsheet; this was not in keeping with Guyana’s law.

He was charged at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court in August 2020.

The charge alleged that between March 4 and 5 at High Street, together with others, Livan while being an employee at GECOM, unlawfully altered the figures of the Statements of Poll, to defraud the State of Guyana.

Livan is one of the many figures implicated in fraudulent activities who refused to testify at the ongoing inquiry. Last week, Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, the District Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, and opposition figures Volda Lawrence, Carol Joseph and Dr. Karen Cummings all refused to testify.