HGP Nightly News – The forensic auditor whose analysis forms part of the prosecution’s case in the 2020 electoral fraud trial acknowledged under cross-examination that he did not authenticate the election files supplied to him or verify their digital chain of custody.
Terrence Jaskarran told the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court that his assignment was limited to tabulating data and comparing information through an electronic interface. He said examining whether the underlying files had been altered, corrupted or otherwise compromised was outside his mandate.
Jaskarran was retained by the Ministry of Home Affairs on August 21, 2020, after servers and other equipment were removed from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) during the investigation.
Appearing before Magistrate Faith McGusty, he was questioned by defence attorney Nigel Hughes about whether he had independently verified the integrity, origin or digital history of the information used in his report.
“You never, for the entire election results, investigated the integrity of any of the documents that were presented to you?” Hughes asked.
“I did not examine cause and effect of any documents,” Jaskarran replied.
The witness also confirmed that his work was not independently peer-reviewed and that no secondary auditor conducted sample checks of his data entries.
The defence sought to cast doubt on the reliability of conclusions drawn from files whose integrity and handling Jaskarran had not independently examined. However, Jaskarran repeatedly maintained that determining whether documents were manipulated or digital files compromised did not form part of the work he was contracted to perform.
“I was hired for a tabulation exercise,” he told the court.
Questions were also raised about data from Region Eight. Jaskarran confirmed that the United Republican Party appeared on the Form 24 declaration although it was not reflected in the corresponding Statements of Poll supplied for his analysis.
When asked whether that discrepancy indicated manipulation or compromised files, Jaskarran declined to draw such a conclusion, again saying that an assessment of possible tampering fell outside his mandate.
The court has made no determination on the defence’s challenge to the reliability of Jaskarran’s work or on the guilt or innocence of the accused. The trial is continuing before Magistrate McGusty.
