Would be made public says AG Byron
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN short order, a preliminary report as to what infractions, if any, took place at the Electoral Office around the time of the General Elections would be made public, according to Attorney-General the Hon. Vincent Byron Jr.
Following the February 16, 2015 General Elections, Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris said that because of “dramatic and extraordinary events” which took place, he had commissioned his Attorney-General to “look into irregularities of the entire 2015 electoral system”.
And findings that the computer system of the Electoral Office had been externally accessed and crashed, this led to a wider investigation that also involved the Criminal Investigation Department of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force.
At Dr. Harris’ most-recent Press conference, Byron indicated that the investigations are coming to a close and a report of the findings would be available for public consumption.
“In relation to the Electoral Office, you would recall that when we took office there had been serious infractions at the Electoral Office. An investigation has been ongoing and we are now reaching a point where it’s beginning to wind down where we can make a preliminary report shortly. As it is, we have had professional assistance from London. Proven Legal Technologies, which is a company involving good governance, has been here; it involves not just technical people but people involved as Queen Counsels and a reputable firm of solicitors who are doing an investigation. They have been looking at the databases that were involved in the use of the Voters’ Lists, Voters’ Register…
“CID was called in to investigate a breach of the Electoral Office. We’ll then determine, once the report is finished, what course of action will be taken in terms of an illegal prosecution. But as it is, we will be making a preliminary report as to the investigations in the not too distant future. It would be made to the public.”
Byron said the Barbados company, which had initially installed the software at the Electoral Office, and another company from the Dominican Republic were involved in the process.
“Over the last week, the representative of another company out of the Dominican Republic has been here at the Electoral Office and has now given a clean bill of health to the computer systems. The servers have been looked at and have been brought back online. We have had to look at the internal network systems within the electoral office and with regards to Nevis.”
AG Byron informed that while it is “improper for me to say whether there is a criminal element or not” at this point, but “if it rises to the point of being misfeasance in government or malfeasance, the government will take what is required depending on the evidence that has been found...”
The Electoral Offices – on both St. Kitts and Nevis – were closed since February 17, 2015 after Supervisor of Elections Wingrove George made an unprecedented move to suspend the announcement of the election results.
In early April, Nevis’ Electoral Office was opened but St. Kitts’ office remains closed.
