Lawyers for Chief Elections Scrutineer for the APNU/AFC coalition, Carol Smith-Joseph are of the firm conviction that recent charges laid against her by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) are politically motivated. According to the attorneys, the charges date back as far as 2016.
The charges laid by SOCU were in connection with alleged fraud committed by Smith-Joseph while she served as a Director of the Mahaica Abary Rice Development Scheme (MARDS) back in 2016.
Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes told the press outside SOCU this morning that upon the arrival of Smith-Joseph, she was immediately arrested by officers.
“Thereafter,14 charges were read to her by officers Persaud, Khan, and Singh. They read about six to five charges each to her about an alleged offense which had occurred in 2016,” Hughes said.
Huges questioned the date of the alleged offense and why they were suddenly brought to his client some six years later.
Hughes said, “That was May 2016, we are now in 2022. The present administration has been in office since 2020 and no attempt was made to lay these allegations, not until Ms. Joseph decided to file proceedings against GECOM (the Guyana Elections Commission).”
Meanwhile, Attorney-at-law Roysdale Forde said what was ironic, was the fact that Smith-Joseph was summoned to SOCU after a matter seeking to nullify the preliminary list of electors before Local Government Elections (LGE) are held, was filed in the High Court.
“I believe this is a response in retaliation for the fact that that matter was filed which caused the local government elections to be postponed. I believe they are seeking to intimidate the members of the opposition so that we would not want to participate in a process that is flawed,” Forde said.
Smith-Joseph, according to Forde, will have to return to SOCU on December 16 for more questioning.
The Opposition Scrutineer had filed a lawsuit at the Demerara High Court against the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), the Chief Elections Officer, Vishnu Persaud and the Attorney General, Anil Nandlall seeking several declarations and orders intended to nullify the current preliminary list of electors.
