President of Voting Machine Company Smartmatic Indicted on Money Laundering, Bribery Charges
The president of voting machine company Smartmatic, Roger Piñate, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on bribery and money-laundering charges in order to get election contracts in the Philippines.
Smartmatic was founded in 2000, and its voting machines have been used in elections in Venezuela and the Philippines.
According to the Miami Herald, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez chose Smartmatic to replace the country’s previous machines in 2004.
Piñate and alleged co-conspirators Jorge Miguel Vasquez and Elie Moreno have now been accused of giving former chairman of the Philippines’ Commission on Elections Juan Andres Donato Bautista $1 million in bribes to secure contracts.
The U.S. Justice Department said:
“These bribes were allegedly paid to obtain and retain business related to providing voting machines and election services for the 2016 Philippine elections and to secure payments on the contracts, including releasing value added tax payments.”
“The co-conspirators allegedly funded the bribes through a slush fund, created by inflating the cost per voting machine,” prosecutors said in a news release.
The co-conspirators were able to pay the bribes by overinvoicing the cost of each voting machine in the election and hiding payments by using coded words to refer to accounts that contained the funds, Just The News reported.
Raw Story reported:
Pinate and Vasquez face charges of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and a substantive violation of that same act.
Along with Bautista and Elie Moreno, 44, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel, they also face charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments.
They also created fraudulent contracts and fake loan agreements to justify the transfer of large sums of money.
According to Smartmatic’s website, Pinate executes “strategic efforts and daily business functions worldwide” and co-created the company’s long-term vision.
“Roger played a critical role in planning and executing the world’s largest election using optical scanners (in the Philippines) and in Smartmatic winning the largest election contract in US history (in Los Angeles),” the company said.
Piñate, Moreno, Vasquez, and Bautista have been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments.
The three face up to 20 years in prison for each charge if convicted.
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