…says Attorney Nigel Hughes
The state is trying to taint Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield as a key witness ahead of the elections petition case filed by the APNU+AFC coalition, his attorney Nigel Hughes has said.
Police on Saturday arrested Lowenfield and put to him charges of criminal misconduct in relation to the elections. Lowenfield refused to answer to the questions.
In a statement on Sunday Hughes said Lowenfield on Saturday voluntarily attended the Criminal Investigation Department Head office upon the invitation of the Police where he was interviewed by officers of the department.
Mr. Lowenfield was accompanied by one of his attorneys at law.
According to Hughes during the course of the interview the investigating officers invited a PPP female party activist and polling agent to confront Mr. Lowenfield on her analysis of the elections results.
Hughes said the rest of the interview consisted of inquiries in relation to matter which are currently before the Court.
“The arrest of Mr. Lowenfield and the institution of new criminal charge by the State are clearly intended to have an impact on any testimony which Mr. Lowenfield may provide in the Election petition cases. The unambiguous intention is to have him classified as a tainted witness at the time of any possible testimony in the conduct of the Election Petition cases,” the attorney said.
Hughes said Lowenfield continues to assert his innocence. “Mr. Lowenfield has always been responsive to any investigation conducted by the Guyana Police force and will remain available to be interviewed in any ongoing investigation,” Hughes statement concluded.
While the Chief Elections Officer’s Report on the National Recount showed a win for the PPP/C by 15,000 votes, the accompanying Observation Reports, which were stipulated by Order No. 60, revealed that there were widespread irregularities and cases of voter impersonation during the elections.
