FORMER Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson Andres Bautista, along with three others, have been charged before a United States court for alleged bribery and money laundering in connection with the 2016 elections.
In a press release on its website, the US Department of Justice said a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida returned an indictment today charging the former Comelec chair and three executives of an election voting machine and service provider company for their roles in an alleged bribery and money laundering scheme to retain and obtain business related to the 2016 polls.
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 US citizen and resident of Davie, Florida, together with others, allegedly caused at least USD1 million in bribes to be paid to Bautista.
“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,” the US DOJ said.
“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 each charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one substantive violation of the FCPA.
Bautista, Pinate, 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, Pinate and Vasquez each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the FCPA and conspiracy to violate the FCPA counts.
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, the US DOJ said.
The Homeland Security Investigations’ El Dorado Task Force Miami is investigating the case, with assistance from Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) Miami.
The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the Philippine Department of Justice, and the Office of the Ombudsman provided substantial assistance, according to the press release.
The US Department of Justice, however, clarified that an indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. (PNA)
