A set of audio recordings presented in court has strengthened allegations of attempts to manipulate the 2020 General and Regional Elections, according to Special Prosecutor Darshan Ramdhani, KC.
Speaking to reporters outside the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Friday, Ramdhani described the recordings as “corroborative” evidence in the ongoing trial against former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, and several others.
The recordings, submitted by Jonathan Yearwood, a former executive of A New and United Guyana (ANUG), were captured during the controversial tabulation process at the Ashmins Building, which served at the time as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Command Centre and the Office of the Returning Officer for District Four.
Central to the prosecution’s case is the assertion that Mingo deviated from the lawful process of using Statements of Poll (SoPs) to tabulate the Region Four results, instead relying on a spreadsheet-based method.
This practice, the prosecution contends, was in direct violation of a standing order by Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, which explicitly required the use of SoPs in the tabulation process.
“The recordings completely corroborate the evidence that has been given by the other witnesses,” the King’s Counsel noted.
“That there were disputes, that there were challenges and objections being made, that there was a use of a spreadsheet instead of referring to the SoP, that there was non-compliance with the Chief Justice’s order,” Ramdhani explained.
Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, had mandated that Statements of Poll (SoPs) be used as the official and primary documents for tabulating votes.
Describing the recordings as “raw and unfiltered,” Ramdhani stressed that they offer a unique, real-time window into the events that unfolded during the highly disputed process. “You hear these things with the actual people speaking at the time and the objections,” he explained.
In one striking excerpt, the prosecutor said that a speaker is heard invoking Section 84 of the Representation of the People Act (RoPA), which mandates that returning officers must use SoPs to tabulate votes.
Ramdhani recounted, “Somebody recited Section 84 of RoPA and actually warned Mingo, saying if he continued in that manner, a report would be made against him.”
The prosecutor also highlighted that the recordings include the voice of Christopher ‘Kit’ Nascimento, a communications consultant and observer for the Private Sector Commission (PSC), who had previously testified in the trial.
“Mr. Nascimento himself can be heard saying, ‘You’re [Mingo] doing it wrong again […] you’re not following what the Chief Justice said for you to do,’” Ramdhani noted.
These recordings, he emphasised, are critical material that captures direct challenges encountered during the tabulation process.
The trial is scheduled to continue on July 28, 2025, when Yearwood is expected to resume his testimony before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty.
The trial involves nine defendants, including former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials and a member of the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition government, who were charged with conspiracy to defraud in connection with the 2020 elections.
