PRESIDENTIAL PETITION

Jose Camargo on Forms 34As is an overlay - lawyer Mahat Somane

He said the presence of the name on the forms in the IEBC portal is not as a result of hacking.

In Summary

• "I want to produce the original Form 34A and I want to inform the court that the name Jose Carmago on that form is an overlay," Somane said.

• "The register of the QR code was printed by Smasmartic International was printed in the name of Jose Carmago," he added.

Advocate Mahat Somane responds to questions from the bench on September 2, 2022.
Advocate Mahat Somane responds to questions from the bench on September 2, 2022.
Image: JUDICIARY

Jose Camargo, the Venezuelan national who allegedly tampered with poll  results never hacked IEBC's public portal, the court has heard.

IEBC lawyer Mahat Somane told the Supreme Court on Friday that the presence of the name on Forms 34As was as a result of an overlay when the presiding officer was taking the picture of the forms.

"I want to produce the original Form 34A and I want to inform the court that the name Jose Camargo on that form is an overlay," Somane said.

An overlay is a graphical computer display which can be superimposed on another.

"The register of the QR code printed by Smartmatic International was printed in the name of Jose Camargo," Samone said.

He explained that the presiding officer from where the form originated took an original Form 34A, placed it on top of a QR register (bearing Carmago's name) and took a picture of the image.

"What is the evidence that is being given in this court? That someone called Camargo is interfering with this," Somane said.

"This is not true," he added.

Earlier in the day, Azimio la Umoja lawyer Julie Soweto told court that the foreigner was responsible for hacking and tampering with the forms on the public portal.

She demonstrated to the court how the tampering happened, further debunking assertions by President-elect William Ruto's legal team that PDF forms cannot be edited. 

The name “Jose Camargo” was at the left side of the form.

“This person is the one who was interfering with the results. This is on the 9th August and we were told they were not there,” she said.

"We were told by Gumbo there were no foreigners in this election. We were told they did not have access to the servers. At the top left corner we have the name of Jose Camargo," Soweto told the packed court.


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