Three senior executives at the voting machine company Smartmatic have been charged in a massive bribery scheme.
In a press release on Thursday, the Department of Justice confirmed that between 2015 and 2018, Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, 49, a Venezuelan citizen and resident of Boca Raton, Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 62, a U.S. citizen and resident of Davie, Florida, funnelled around $1 million in bribes to Juan Andres Donato Bautista, 60, the former Chairman of the Filipino Commission of Elections (COMELEC).
Four Men Charged in Philippine Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme
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— Criminal Division (@DOJCrimDiv) August 8, 2024
The release explains:
The co-conspirators allegedly funded the bribes through a slush fund that was created by over-invoicing the cost per voting machine for the 2016 Philippine elections. 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 co-conspirators then allegedly laundered funds related to the bribery scheme through bank accounts located in Asia, Europe, and the United States, including in the Southern District of Florida.
Pinate and Vasquez are