US grand jury indicts ex-Comelec chief Bautista, 3 Smartmatic execs in corruption scandal

According to the allegation, former Comelec chairman Andres Bautista received at least $1 million in bribes from ‘three executives of an election voting machine and service provider company’ between 2015 and 2018

MANILA, Philippines – A US federal grand jury in Florida indicted former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista and three other executives of Smartmatic in connection with an alleged bribery and money laundering scheme related to the 2016 Philippine presidential elections.

A press release published by the US Department of Justice on Thursday, August 8, said Bautista allegedly received at least $1 million in bribes from “three executives of an election voting machine and service provider company” between 2015 and 2018.

The release did not explicitly name Smartmatic, but a Google search of the three other people indicated showed they worked for the election tech provider. They are:

The website adds a disclaimer, saying: “An indictment is merely an allegation. “All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”

The University of Washington School of Law says that an indictment signals that investigative bodies “have enough evidence that people feel comfortable charging a particular individual and bringing a criminal charge to trial.”

The announcement came a day after incumbent Comelec chief George Garcia called a press conference, linking Smartmatic – now disqualified from bidding for election contracts due to bribery scandal – to the alleged smear campaign against him.

Money that passed through the US financial system

The United States is stepping in and launching its own investigation because the four people involved in the laundering scheme did so “through bank accounts located in Asia, Europe, and the United States, including in the Southern District of Florida.”

“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 press release read .

Bautista and the three Smartmatic executives are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments. A conviction could result in up to 20 years in prison.

The grand jury also sued Pinate and Vasquez for one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one substantive violation of the FCPA, which if convicted carries with it a five-year jail sentence.

Rappler first reported about the case filed by the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) against Bautista at the US District Court in the Southern District of Florida in September 2023.

The HSI had said it launched a probe after Bautista’s estranged wife alerted the Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) about her husband’s alleged ill-gotten wealth worth P1 billion ($17.57 million).

Smartmatic provided Comelec with poll machines and the technology since the 2010 national elections, the Philippines’ first automated polls. It is 100% privately owned and has no ties to political parties or groups, according to its website.

Contracts that Smartmatic won for the 2016 elections totaled $199 million.

Bautista previously denied the allegations, saying in September last year: “I did not ask for nor receive any bribe money from Smartmatic or any other entity.”

At that time, Smartmatic also disputed claims of irregularities, asserting: “Smartmatic has adhered to the Philippine procurement law and the strict controls that the Philippine Commission on Elections imposes.”

Rappler has reached out to both Bautista and Smartmatic for fresh reactions. We will update this story as soon as we get your reply.

Bautista is in hiding in the US, and the NBI was hunting him as of 2019, after allegations of ill-gotten wealth sparked a congressional investigation, and led to his impeachment, although he resigned hours before the House handed down its decision.

Before he became election chairman, Bautista practiced law for over two decades, led private firms, served as dean of a law school, and headed the Presidential Commission on Good Government, the agency tasked to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family. – Rappler.com