Ex-poll chief Bautista facing US bribery raps

Andres Bautista—INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The former chair of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has been indicted in the United States by a US federal grand jury in Florida for allegedly taking bribes from a company that provided vote-counting machines for the 2016 national elections in the Philippines.

Andres “Andy” Bautista, 60, faces one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments, the US Department of Justice said in a statement on Thursday (Friday in Manila).

Three executives of the voting machine company were also indicted for their roles in an “alleged bribery and money laundering scheme to retain and obtain business related to the 2016 Philippine elections,” it said.

The US Department of Justice did not identify the company but one of the three indicted executives is Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez, 49, a Venezuelan citizen and Florida resident who is a cofounder of Smartmatic.

The indictment alleges that between 2015 and 2018, Piñate, Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 62, and others “caused at least $1 million in bribes to be paid” to Bautista.

READ: Ex-Comelec chief Andy Bautista facing US bribery charges

Piñate and Vasquez are each charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

$199-million contract

Like Bautista, Piñate, Vasquez, and Elie Moreno, 44, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel, are also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments.

The Comelec banned Smartmatic last year from bidding on election contracts, but the Supreme Court overturned the ban in April.

Bautista, who headed the election commission from 2015 to 2017, awarded Smartmatic a $199-million contract to supply the Philippines with 94,000 voting machines for the 2016 presidential election.

He has denied any wrongdoing, writing on X that he “did not ask for nor receive any bribe money from Smartmatic or any other entity.”

The US Department of Justice and US Attorney’s Office did not respond to a query from Agence France-Presse (AFP) as to whether Bautista is in US custody.

There was also no immediate response from Smartmatic but a company spokesperson told CNN last year that it “has never won a project through any illegal means” and the allegations in the Bautista case are “not related to Smartmatic election security or integrity.”

Smartmatic has filed lawsuits against Fox News and former allies of former President Donald Trump, including Rudy Giuliani, over false claims that its machines were used to manipulate the results of the 2020 US election.

Estranged wife

The charges against Bautista may have been triggered by allegations against him by his estranged wife, Patricia Paz Bautista, who submitted to the National Bureau of Investigation in August 2017 an affidavit, saying that he might have amassed nearly P1 billion in ill-gotten wealth, including P329 million in accounts at Luzon Development Bank.

She disclosed certain information and documents that would show that her husband “might have had, or currently has, misdealing and corrupt practices while in government service.”

These documents included several passbooks and bank and real property documents under her husband’s name, and some of his relatives that were not included in his 2016 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

Smartmatic denial

She said she found foreign investments “in the form of his interests in corporations and loan agreements” that his SALN also did not disclose.

Bautista repeatedly denied his wife’s allegations. He filed multiple cases against her, such as grave coercion, qualified theft and robbery, and extortion.

After she submitted her affidavit to the NBI, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiated a probe into Bautista’s supposed ill-gotten wealth.

In September 2023, a criminal complaint was filed by the US DHS against Bautista for allegedly receiving bribes from Smartmatic that bagged the $199-million contract for the 2016 polls.

Smartmatic denied the bribery allegation, saying: “Winning a bid in the Philippines is never solely one individual’s preference or decision.”

Bautista also rejected the bribery allegation in a post on X, saying he was surprised to learn about the criminal case as the DHS never reached out to him.

Bautista headed the poll body for two years before he was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of amassing alleged ill-gotten wealth and receiving “referral fees” from Smartmatic.

Word of caution

He stepped down in October 2017, “after much prayer and discernment,” before he was to be tried by the Senate.

Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia cautioned against prejudging the case against Bautista or jumping to conclusion.

“Let’s presume everyone’s innocent until proven guilty,” he told reporters in a Viber message on Friday.

“Any person, including the ordinary citizen, when accused, is presumed innocent until there is a process, hearing and the proper court decides that the person is guilty,” Garcia said later in a media interview in Butuan City.

He said, however, that he and the Comelec “feel like vindicated” when one of Smartmatic‘s executives and founders was found allegedly involved in wrongdoing because the indictment meant that in disqualifying the company, “we did not exercise grave abuse of discretion.”

“We had basis all along, and this now is being proven when the US DOJ filed cases against our former head and some officials of our former provider,” Garcia added.

He said due process was being applied to Bautista and the others “unlike what’s being done to me [wherein I’m being portrayed] guilty even if the [supposed] proofs are fake.”

Garcia’s own battle

Garcia himself is currently facing accusations from a congressman of receiving bribes funneled to over 50 local and foreign banks to favor Comelec’s new automated election service provider, Miru Systems Co. Ltd.

Garcia has repeatedly and vehemently denied the allegations and asked the NBI and Anti-Money Laundering Council for assistance in clearing his name.

He issued waivers of bank secrecy and also secured certifications from local banks that he had no accounts with them. He said, he had no offshore bank accounts and that supposed records of money transfer transactions to those accounts were bogus.

Garcia said he wrote the US DOJ on Thursday to also investigate those behind the charges against him for bank fraud, identity theft and money laundering.

SC to be informed

The Comelec chief said the poll body will also inform the Supreme Court about the Florida indictments as well as the accusations against him.

The high court is currently hearing a petition by Smartmatic questioning the Comelec’s contract with Miru Systems, a South Korean company.

The high court has ruled that Comelec should not disqualify Smartmatic, but did not order it to hold a new bidding or nullify the award to Miru. Its decision is not yet final as the parties moved for a reconsideration of the decision.

Garcia had created an 11-member panel to investigate whether Comelec personnel were involved in the alleged “rigging” of the bidding process for the automation contract with Smartmatic for the 2016 elections. —REPORTS FROM AFP, JEROME ANING AND INQUIRER RESEARCH