Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield
October 13 ,2020
Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield was yesterday faced with six additional criminal charges alleging forgery and misconduct in public office during this year’s contentious general and regional elections process.
Lowenfield yesterday presented himself to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Head-quarters at Eve Leary for questioning by investigators and was arrested and then escorted to the city magistrates’ courts, where he was formally read the six new charges. He was charged with three counts of misconduct in public office and three counts of forgery.
He was represented by Senior Counsel Neil Boston and attorney Nigel Hughes, who made a successful bail application on his behalf. He was granted his release on a total of $300,000 bail, representing $50,000 for each charge. His next court appearance related to the charges is scheduled for October 23rd, when the disclosure of statements will be made.
In addition to these new charges, Lowenfield is expected to go on trial next month on three private criminal charges which were filed against him in March. Those charges, alleging fraud and misconduct in public office, were filed by private citizens Josh Kanhai and Desmond Morian. The CEO was granted $450,000 bail for the three charges. He appeared at the George-town Magistrates’ Court last Friday and the matter was adjourned until October 23rd for further disclosure. The trial in relation to complaints made by Morian will begin on November 13th and the trial in relation to complaints made by Kanhai will begin on November 20th.
A number of other senior and junior Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials have been placed before the court on various charges stemming from allegations that participated in attempts to rig the 2020 general and regional elections. Last Friday Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers was charged with two counts of misconduct in public office.
