Roger Piñate, founder and president of electronic voting software company Smartmatic, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday on charges of bribery and money laundering in connection to the 2016 election in the Philippines. According to the indictment, Smartmatic, which is trusted to provide secure voting machines for elections around the world, paid over $1 million in bribes to Philippines Elections Commission Chairman Juan Andres Donato Bautista to secure contracts ahead of the election.
Piñate co-founded Smartmatic with fellow engineers Antonio Mugica and Alfredo José Anzol in Venezuela in 2000, and the company made headlines in 2004 after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez tapped them to run the country’s elections.
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Piñate has been charged alongside two other company officials, identified as Jorge Miguel Vasque and Elie Moreno. The US Department of Justice alleges that they financed bribes to the Philippines by over-invoicing the cost of voting machines, creating fake loan agreements and fraudulent contracts to launder the payments through bank accounts in Asia, Europe, and the United States.
“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,” read a press release from the DOJ.
Per the Miami Herald:
Bautista, Piñate, Vasquez, and Elie Moreno, 44, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments.
If convicted, Bautista, Pinate, Vasquez and Moreno each face a maximum penalty of 20 years for each count of international laundering of monetary instruments and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Responding to the indictment, Smartmatic said in a statement that all employees involved have been placed on leave. However, the company clarified that “no voter fraud has been alleged and Smartmatic is not indicted.”
“Voters worldwide must be assured that the elections they participate in are conducted with the utmost integrity and transparency,” the statement continued. “These are the values that Smartmatic lives by.”
Smartmatic has learned that two of our employees have been indicted for alleged violations of the FCPA in the Philippines almost 10 years ago. Regardless of the veracity of the allegations and while our accused employees remain innocent until proven guilty, we have placed both… pic.twitter.com/ZGFVXgh5XX
— Smartmatic (@smartmatic) August 9, 2024
The blowback against Smartmatic has revived suspicions of other corrupt actions by the company, particularly during the 2020 election in the US. At the time, the Trump campaign accused Smartmatic of providing hackable software to Dominion Voting Systems, which could have compromised the election results.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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