Comelec to probe other personalities in Bautista case

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections is looking into other personalities who may be involved in the bribery and money laundering charges against former Comelec chief Andres Bautista.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia yesterday reported that the commission is gathering documents that may be used by the US government in the court case against Bautista.

“We don’t want to reach the point where the case in the US is moving and the Comelec is doing nothing… Some other people might be involved and are not accused and able to go scot-free just because they were not investigated by the US,” Garcia said in a television interview.

Last week, the federal grand jury in the Southern District of California indicted Bautista for allegedly taking bribes from a technology provider in exchange for awarding a multibillion-peso contract for the 2016 elections.

Bautista was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering along with three officials of former Comelec technology provider Smartmatic.

Garcia said the indictment against Bautista served as “guidance” for the poll body to dig up important documents.

“The documents America have are limited. But we have the documents of the transactions they mentioned,” Garcia said, adding that he has ordered the gathering of all minutes of the meetings, vouchers and financial documents concerning the contract.

“Our purpose here is to determine the root cause of all these. Did the government really lose P700 million? To whom did it go? Who is responsible?” he added.

Garcia noted that the Comelec is trying to determine whether other poll personnel are involved in the alleged conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Bautista was the poll chief when the contract to supply the country with 94,000 voting machines for the 2016 presidential election was awarded to Smartmatic.

Meanwhile, National Security Council assistant director general Jonathan Malaya confirmed yesterday that the National Security Council (NSC) is concerned with the possible interference of foreign actors in the midterm elections next year.

Malaya, in an interview with “Storycon” on One News, said they are monitoring increased “foreign malign influence and