Ex-Comelec chief faces US bribery, launder raps

MANILA, Philippines — A federal grand jury in the United States has indicted former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista and three officials of vote counting machine provider Smartmatic for alleged bribery and money laundering in relation to the 2016 elections in the Philippines.

Bautista was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments, according to a press statement from the US Justice Department.

Also indicted were Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez, Jorge Miguel Vasquez and Elie Moreno, described as “three executives of an election voting machine and service provider company.”

Smartmatic was not specifically identified by the US Justice Department, but a cursory search of the company’s website and previous reports confirm the accused’s links to the election technology provider.

Piñate, currently listed as director of the Smartmatic Global Board, was a company co-founder and served as its president.

Vasquez was vice president for external operations, while Moreno – who was also general manager of Smartmatic Philippines – was vice president of the company’s global services unit.

According to the US Justice Department, Piñate and Vasquez “allegedly caused at least $1 million in bribes” to be paid to Bautista.

“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 the release of value added tax payments,” read the press release.

They allegedly funded the bribes through a slush fund created by over-invoicing the cost of voting machines used in the 2016 elections in the Philippines.

“To conceal and disguise the nature and purpose of the corrupt payments, the co-conspirators used coded language to refer to the slush fund and caused the creation of fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements to justify transfers,” the US Justice Department said.

“The co-conspirators then allegedly laundered funds related to the bribery scheme through bank accounts located in Asia, Europe and the United States, including in