Court asked to summon Carrington, Mitchell Erratum surfaces again Stabroek News May 26, 2000 The elections petition was asked yesterday to subpoena CARICOM Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington, and Prime Minister of Grenada, Dr Keith Mitchell, to produce the original erratum to the audit report, in the light of a story in yesterday's Stabroek News. The Caribbean News Agency (CANA) article cites Mitchell as confirming that he had received the original copy of the erratum to the CARICOM Audit Commission (CAC) report. The erratum relates to page 29 of the CAC report and its findings on voter identification cards. The CANA article also mentions Carrington as saying he could not recall whether the erratum was sent directly to him or Mitchell, the then chairman of CARICOM. Ulric Cross who prepared the erratum as chairman of the CAC told CANA: "I know I sent the erratum to page 29 of our report. If the original did not go directly to the CARICOM secretary-general, then I assume it went to the then chairman of the community." In court yesterday Senior Counsel Doodnauth Singh representing Chief Election Officer Stanley Singh, asked the court to summon Carrington and Mitchell to produce the original or give an account of it; the basis being the news report which "states emphatically PM Mitchell received the erratum and in addition the secretary says he may have received the original..." Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran, representing Janet Jagan supported his colleague's request and pointed out "...the matter of the ID cards has emerged as one of the most important issues. The court must be aware of the existence of a document called the erratum but has been urged to treat it as a blank document, in name only." He said the court has full authority under Section 90 of the Evidence Act. Despite the respondents having closed their case, Ramkarran cited Worth vs Relay Roads to support the application. Singh said: "The petitioner seeks to rely on page 29 which by all accounts is erroneous. The court has an overriding duty to seek to arrive at the truth." He asked to interrupt his closing arguments in the light of this new development. With Senior Counsel Rex McKay out of the country Justice Claudette Singh adjourned the court until Monday when arguments against an order could be heard. Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today