(National Pulse) A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida has indicted three executives of election voting machine and service provider Smartmatic, as well as a former Chairman of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) of the Philippines. The men, including Smartmatic’s own President, Roger Pinate, stand accused of facilitating at least $1 million in bribes.
These bribes were reportedly made to secure and maintain business related to the provision of voting machines and election services for the 2016 Philippines elections and to ensure the release of value-added tax payments.
The co-conspirators allegedly funded the bribes by over-invoicing the cost per voting machine, thereby creating a slush fund. To hide these corrupt payments, they used coded language and created fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements. They then supposedly laundered the proceeds through bank accounts in Asia, Europe, and the United States, including Florida.
Pinate and Vasquez face charges of one count each of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one substantive count of the FCPA. Additionally, Pinate, Vasquez, Bautista, and Elie Moreno, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel, are each charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments. If convicted, Pinate and Vasquez could each receive up to five years in prison for the FCPA charges, while all four defendants face up to 20 years for each count of money laundering.
