The Department of Justice indicted a number of executives from the voting machine company Smartmatic Thursday, including founder and President Roger Pinate, on a series of federal money laundering and bribery charges.
"A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida returned an indictment today charging three executives of an election voting machine and service provider company and a former Chairman of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) of the Republic of the Philippines for their roles in an alleged bribery and money laundering scheme to retain and obtain business related to the 2016 Philippine elections," DOJ released Thursday.
A federal Grand Jury found the men paid bribes in order to land contracts for Smartmatic during elections in the Philippines nearly a decade ago.
"According to the indictment, between 2015 and 2018, Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, 49, a Venezuelan citizen and resident of Boca Raton, Florida, and Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 62, a U.S. citizen and resident of Davie, Florida, together with others, allegedly caused at least $1 million in bribes to be paid to Juan Andres Donato Bautista, 60, the former Chairman of COMELEC. 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," DOJ states.
"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," DOJ continued.
The Smartmatic website states Pinate's biography this way:
As President of Smartmatic, Roger is responsible for the execution of strategic efforts and daily business functions worldwide. But perhaps more importantly, Roger is the co-creator of the company’s long-term vision and an inspiring leader to team members around the world.
Armed with a degree in Electronic Engineering, Roger co-founded Smartmatic with two partners. In the 20 years since he has been responsible for carrying out successful projects in the USA, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
Roger played a critical role in planning and executing the world’s largest election using optical scanners (in the Philippines) and in Smartmatic winning the largest election contract in US history (in Los Angeles).
According to DOJ, all of the men indicted face "a maximum penalty of 20 years for each count of international laundering of monetary instruments and conspiracy to commit money laundering."
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