FORMER Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista and three executives of the company that provided the automated vote-counting machines for the 2016 elections in the Philippines were indicted on Friday (Manila time) by a federal grand jury in Florida for bribery and money laundering.

The company that allegedly bribed Bautista was not named in US court records, but the description in an affidavit matched that of Smartmatic, which had won every contract to supply Comelec with voting machines since the first automated elections were held in 2010.

Charged with Bautista were Smartmatic President and General Manager Roger Alejandro Pinate, Vice President for External Operations Jorge Miguel Vasquez, and Vice President for Global Services Elie Moreno.

Bautista on Friday said that the charges against him were politically motivated.

The four defendants were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments.

Pinate and Vasquez were each charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one substantive violation of the FCPA.

If convicted, the four face a 20-year prison term for each count of international laundering of monetary instruments and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Pinate and Vasquez also face five years in prison for the FCPA and conspiracy to violate the FCPA counts.

Based on court records, between 2015 and 2018, Smartmatic executives paid a bribe of at least $1 million to Bautista, the Comelec chairman at the time, to ensure that Smartmatic won the contract for vote counting machines and election services for the 2016 polls.

More than 92,000 counting machines were used to digitize ballots and transmit the results for canvassing.

The executives allegedly funded the bribe through a slush fund that was created by over-invoicing the cost of the voting machines.

To disguise the bribes, the defendants allegedly used coded language to refer to the slush fund and created fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements to justify transfers.

Bautista, Pinate and Vasquez then laundered funds related to the bribery scheme through bank accounts in Asia, Europe, and the United States, including in the Southern District of Florida.

The United States Justice Department said the indictment was merely an allegation.

"All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law," the department said in a statement.

The Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations filed the case against Bautista on Sept. 19, 2023.

The allegations against Bautista and Smartmatic executives prompted Comelec to bar Smartmatic from participating in all procurement projects for the 2025 elections.

The poll automation contract worth over P17 billion was instead awarded to South Korean firm Miru Systems.

The case was brought to the Supreme Court, which ruled that Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion when it disqualified Smartmatic from bidding for the 2025 election.

The poll body earlier said it will include the money laundering case filed against its former head in appealing the Supreme Court ruling.

In his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Bautista said his indictment was "politically influenced by key Philippine officials," but did not name them.

"The voting machine company won the contract before, during and after my tenure as Chairman, a role I performed during the 2016 elections with zeal and competence in service of the Filipino people," he wrote.

Bautista said he will "fight for my exoneration in court and show that I have not committed any crime against the US government or the American people, nor have I taken advantage or prejudiced them in any way."

Read The Rest at :