Raila Odinga’s legal team through Counsel Julie Soweto on August 2, demonstrated to the Supreme Court how a Venezuelan national, Jose Carmago, helped in election interference by accessing the IEBC servers.
Lawyer Julie Soweto in her submission before the seven-judge bench on Friday, September 2, through a PowerPoint presentation, displayed a Form 34A which bore the name Jose Camargo.
According to Julie Soweto, the Form 34A bearing Camargo’s name was uploaded on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) portal and was available for all to see.
Watch Julie Soweto’s presentation at the Supreme Court.
The form belonged to Gacharagu Primary School polling station in Muguru ward in Meru County. She argued that his name is evidence enough that he was allegedly responsible for interfering with the forms and manipulating votes which were being uploaded on the IEBC portal
Julie Soweto further argued that he reportedly played a key role in determining the President-elect.
“At the top-hand left corner there, we have the name of one the Venezuelans Jose Camargo. This is the person who decided the President-elect of the country,” she stated.
Soweto as well argued that Azimio La Umoja had earlier raised their concerns regarding Camargo and IEBC assured that they could not infiltrate the system.
“We didn’t make this up! We were told that we forged these forms, but this is how, My Lord, the staging was happening. This is on August 9 when we were told they (Venezuelans) did not have access to the system,” Soweto lamented.
In their response, the Directorate and Criminal Investigation (DCI) accused three Venezuelan nationals, Salvador Javier Suarez, Jose Castellano and Joel Garcia, of accessing the IEBC systems.
The trio were caught with IEBC materials while entering the country via the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
“It was established that the confiscated exhibits had substantial information held in the IEBC systems are in full control of foreign employees of M/S Smartmatic International Holdings B.V. and Seamless Limited who have been contracted by IEBC,” the DCI had stated in its report.