https://www.manilatimes.net/2023/09/24/news/bautista-faces-money-laundering-raps-in-us/1911524

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The US Justice Department has filed money-laundering charges against Andres Bautista, former chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the Philippines, in a case involving four executives from subsidiaries of Smartmatic, the technology firm that provided the Philippines vote counting machines (VCMs) it used for the presidential elections in 2016, according to court documents cited by CNN.

The report said Bautista had awarded Smartmatic a $199 million contract to supply 94,000 VCMS for the election won by Rodrigo Duterte.

Smartmatic is also the voting machine company currently suing Fox News for defamation and has been implicated in an alleged Philippine bribery scheme, CNN reported Friday.

The executives, who have not been identified, are implicated as uncharged co-conspirators and are alleged to have "caused or attempted" to transfer $4 million to Bautista "in violation of US money laundering laws," according to CNN.

According to the documents filed on Thursday, the Smartmatic executives used "slush funds" — reserve money used for illegal purposes — and "fake contracts" to facilitate alleged bribes and masked their actions with phony email accounts to facilitate the transfer of funds to a dummy bank account allegedly owned by Bautista, passing through the US financial system.

The Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) filed a bribery case against Bautista with the US District Court in the Southern District of Florida on Sept. 19, 2023.

The case alleged that Bautista received bribe money from an unnamed poll company and its subsidiaries in exchange for assistance in securing multimillion-dollar contracts.

Based on the affidavit, the case against Bautista was being pursued after HSI learned that his estranged wife, Patricia Paz Bautista, alerted Philippine authorities about his alleged ill-gotten wealth worth nearly P1 billion ($17.6 million).

The executives and a Taiwan-based vendor with whom the poll firm partnered "disguised these payments totaling $1 million to Bautista as fictitious loans to Baumann, a company located outside of the Philippines, while Bautista was chairman of Comelec," according to the affidavit.

Investigators said the case was based on bank records and emails they lawfully obtained.

Smartmatic was the winner of these contracts in 2016, but the affidavit did not mention the company.

Reacting to the bribery charges, Bautista wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday that he was "surprised" to learn about the complaint.

"I have never been contacted by the US Department of Homeland Security about it for comment," Bautista said.

"But let me be very clear. I did not ask for nor receive any bribe money from Smartmatic or any other entity," he said, adding that the 2016 presidential election in the Philippines was "hailed by various independent national and local election stakeholders as the best managed in our electoral history."

"Be that as it may, I am ready to respond to the alleged charges at the proper forum and time," Bautista said.

There is no indication that Bautista is currently in US custody, and the court filing against him does not accuse Smartmatic of tampering with the Philippine election results, CNN added.

Smartmatic is already embroiled in several lawsuits against Fox News and former allies of former Donald Trump, including Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, over claims that its machines were used to manipulate the results of the 2020 US election.

Smartmatic spokesman Samira Saba said in a statement that the Florida-based company "has never won a project through any illegal means" and that the allegations in the case against Bautista are "not related to Smartmatic election security or integrity."

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, Smartmatic, the company that has provided election-related machines since the first automated polls were conducted in the country, said there were no irregularities in the way it secured contracts.

"Smartmatic has adhered to the Philippine procurement law and the strict controls that the Philippine Commission on Elections imposes," the firm said.

"Winning a bid in the Philippines is never solely one individual's preference or decision," it added.

"Dozens of Comelec officials have a say in selecting the provider," the company said.