BREAKING: Former Comelec chairperson Andy Bautista and three Smartmatic officials indicted

BREAKING: Former Comelec Chairperson Andy Bautista and three Smartmatic officials—Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez, Elie Moreno, and Jose Miguel Vaquez — have been indicted by the federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida.

According to the indictment, between 2015 and 2018, Vasquez, Piñate, and Moreno, with others, allegedly facilitated at least $1M in bribes to be paid to Bautista.

These bribes were allegedly used to obtain and maintain business related to providing voting machines for the 2016 Philippine elections.

The bribe payments were allegedly funneled through slush funds and covered by fraudulent contracts and loan agreements, involving money laundering across bank accounts in Asia, Europe, and the United States, including the South District of Florida.

Bautista, Piñate, Vasquez, and Moreno are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments. | via Gabriela Baron