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MIAMI: A US federal grand jury indicted the former chairman of the Philippines’ Commission on Elections in Florida on Thursday (Aug 8) for accepting bribes from a company that supplied voting machines for the country’s 2016 elections.
Andres “Andy” Bautista, 60, faces one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international money laundering, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
Three executives of the voting machine company were also indicted for participating in an “alleged bribery and money laundering scheme to retain and obtain business related to the 2016 Philippine election,” the report said.
The Justice Department did not name the company, but one of the three indicted executives is Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, 49, a Venezuelan citizen, Florida resident and co-founder of Smartmatic.
The indictment alleges that between 2015 and 2018, Pinart, 62-year-old Jorge Miguel Vasquez and others “paid bribes of at least $1 million to Bautista.”
Pinarte and Vasquez were each charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Along with Bautista, Pinarte, Vazquez and Eli Moreno, a 44-year-old dual Venezuelan-Israeli national, were charged with one count of conspiracy to launder money and three counts of international money laundering.
The Philippines’ Commission on Elections banned Smartmatic from bidding for election contracts last year, but the country’s Supreme Court overturned the ban in April.
Bautista, who served as chairman of the Commission on Elections from 2015 to 2017, awarded Smartmatic a $199 million contract to supply 94,000 voting machines for the 2016 presidential election won by former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte.
He denied any wrongdoing, writing on X that he “did not solicit or accept any bribes from Smartmatic or any other entity.”
The US Justice Department and the US Attorney’s Office did not respond to AFP queries on whether Bautista was in US custody.
Smartmatic confirmed in a statement that two of its employees had been charged and said: “Regardless of whether the allegations are true or not, the employees we have accused are innocent until proven guilty, and as such we have suspended both employees, effective immediately.”
“There have been no allegations of voter fraud and Smartmatic has not been sued,” the company said.
“Voters around the world must be confident that the elections they participate in are conducted with the utmost integrity and transparency. These are values to which Smartmatic upholds,” it added.
Smartmatic has filed a lawsuit against Fox News and allies of former President Donald Trump, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, alleging its machines were used to manipulate the results of the 2020 US election.
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