Breaking: Magistrate Daly to conduct PI into misconduct charges against Deputy Chief Elections Officer

Senior Magistrate Leron Daly on Thursday ruled that she will be conducting a Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into the two misconduct charges laid against Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers.

In doing so, the Magistrate upheld submissions by prominent Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes who had asked that the charges against his client remain indictable and for the Magistrate to conduct a PI to determine whether there is sufficient evidence against Myers to warrant a trial in the High Court.

Special Prosecutor Attorney-at-Law Ganesh Hira indicated that the Director of Public Prosecutions will be appealing the decision of the Magistrate.

The charges against Myers alleged that between March 4 and March 14, 2020, in Georgetown, while being a public officer, that is to say, the DCEO of the Guyana Elections Commission, she wilfully misconducted herself together with Region 4 Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo and others, to declare a fraudulent account of votes for the General and Regional Elections which amounted to a breach of the public’s trust in the office of the said DCEO of Guyana Elections Commission, without any reasonable excuse or justification.

She was granted bail in the sum of $300,000 on her first court appearance back in October 2020. Last October, Myers surrendered herself to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) after receiving information that she was wanted for questioning.

She had reportedly evaded investigators for over a month. Last October, the Police launched investigations after receiving formal reports of alleged criminal conduct by Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, Myers, Mingo, other GECOM staffers, and members of the APNU/AFC in relations to the March 02, 2020, General and Regional elections and the events that followed thereafter.