Attorney-at-Law Darren Wade moments ago withdrew court proceedings against the State in which he was asking the High Court for an order for his client, Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, to be released. Mingo was arrested Tuesday on allegations of electoral fraud.
By way of writ of habeas corpus, Mingo’s lawyers, Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde, and Wade had moved to the court asking that their client be immediately released from Police custody.
During the hearing, Acting Chief Justice Rishi Persaud advised Wade to withdraw the proceedings and await the 72 hours’ expiration.
He further indicated that he no longer wished to go ahead with the proceedings as the police are now allowing him access to his client, and he and the police have since built a good relationship.
Despite this backdrop, Wade noted that in a few hours, the case would become academic since the police will have to release his client from custody at 14:30hrs today when the 72 hours detention period will expire.
Wade also asked the court to make certain amendments to the application he filed related to his submissions regarding Article 144 of the Constitution. He asked that this be amended to read Article 139 of the Constitution. But, this application was refused by the Judge.
Moreover, Attorney General Anil Nandlall argued that the question of lawyers being denied access to their clients does not warrant habeas corpus proceedings.
Nandlall submitted several case laws, even one by the CCJ, which outlines that the Court does not sit in academic matters. Nandlall, in supporting his contentions, referenced Article 139 of the Consitution.
He noted that unlawful detention would kick in when the 72 hours expire. As such, the police are acting lawfully.
As a result, he asked that the matter be dismissed and invited the Court to hear him on costs.
Mingo’s wife, Waveney Mingo, who retained the lawyers, argues that the Police are in breach of her husband’s constitutional rights to his liberty, as guaranteed by virtue of Article 144 of the Constitution of Guyana, and that he has been held without lawful excuse, which is a violation of his constitutional rights.
In light of the foregoing, she further argued that the arrest and continued detention of Mingo is unlawful, unconstitutional, and is an abuse of power.
Moreover, she contends that unless the Commissioner of Police, Nigel Hoppie, is directed to forthwith release her husband, he will suffer gross violations of his guaranteed and protected constitutional rights for a protracted period of time.
On August 25, 2020, Mingo was arrested and taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) for questioning concerning electoral fraud.
Mingo has been accused of attempting to alter the March 2 elections results in favour of the APNU/AFC Coalition.
The Police Force, a few days ago, announced that it was investigating alleged criminal conduct by Mingo along with others, including Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, who is also currently facing private criminal fraud charges before the courts.
Mingo’s attempts to alter the results of the elections led to the national recount exercise, which ultimately proved the significant differences in the figures being called by the RO compared to the actual numbers of votes cast.
Following his arrest, four of his assistants along with GECOM’s IT Officer were picked up shortly after and are currently in police custody.
On March 2, the original counting of the ballots cast had proceeded smoothly and had been completed in nine (9) regions with the PPP/C in a major lead.
But the tabulation of Statements of Poll (SoPs) was interrupted in District Four (Demerara-Mahaica) after Mingo switched from the legal procedure – which ensures transparency – whereby each SoP had to be exhibited to the stakeholders present to enable comparison to their copies.
However, Mingo diverted to a procedure where the purported numbers from the SoPs were incorporated into a consolidated spreadsheet. This led to immediate calls for transparency from both local and international observers.
This led to the High Court case when all the parties excepting APNU/AFC protested the sleight of hand that facilitated an inflation of the party’s votes.
On August 25, 2020, Mingo was arrested and taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) for questioning concerning electoral fraud.
Mingo, the Guyana Elections Commission’s Returning Officer for Region Four, has been accused of attempting to alter the March 2 elections results in favour of the APNU/AFC Coalition.
The Police Force, a few days ago, announced that it was investigating alleged criminal conduct by Mingo along with others, including Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, who is also currently facing private criminal fraud charges before the courts.
Mingo’s attempts to alter the results of the elections led to the national recount exercise, which ultimately proved the significant differences in the figures being called by the RO compared to the actual numbers of votes cast.
Following his arrest, four of his assistants were picked up shortly after and are currently in police custody.
