Smartmatic founder, ex-VP surrender in US

MANILA, Philippines — Smartmatic founder Roger Piñate and a former vice president of the election technology provider have surrendered to authorities in the United States to face charges against them, the Miami Herald reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, Piñate and former Smartmatic vice president for hardware development Jorge Miguel Vasquez surrendered to face charges in a Miami federal court on Monday.

The two were among the four indicted by a federal grand jury last week over an alleged bribery and money laundering scheme in relation to the 2016 elections in the Philippines.

Charged along with them were former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista and Elie Moreno, former vice president of Smartmatic’s global services unit who also served as general manager of Smartmatic Philippines.

The Miami Herald said Piñate, whose full name in the indictment is Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez, was released after he was allowed to post a bond of $8.5 million.

Vasquez, meanwhile, was released on a $1-million bond.

Piñate was not able to enter a plea, while Vasquez pleaded not guilty to the charges, the report added.

Based on the press release from the US Justice Department last week, Piñate and Vasquez were each charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and one substantive violation of the FCPA.

Bautista, Piñate, Vasquez and Moreno were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments.

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