Miami (USA), Aug 9 (EFE).- Venezuelan-American Roger Piñate, founder of the electoral technology company Smartmatic, is free on bail in a corruption case he faces in a Miami (USA) court, according to the newspaper Nuevo Herald.
The founder of Smartmatic turned himself in to authorities this week, appearing in a Miami federal court on Monday and posting bail of $8.5 million, the newspaper reported Tuesday.
According to the US Justice Department, Piñate, 62-year-old American Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 44-year-old Israeli-American Elie Moreno and Juan Andres Donato have been charged with participating in an alleged bribery scheme to obtain contracts for the 2016 Philippine elections.
Smartmatic has provided services to electoral bodies in numerous countries such as Venezuela, Mexico and the United States, in the latter of which it filed a lawsuit for 2.7 billion dollars against the Fox network.
The channel is accused of defamation for allegedly knowingly broadcasting false information linking the company to the alleged 2020 electoral fraud, denounced without evidence by former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), now a candidate for the White House again.
According to the Justice Department, between 2015 and 2018, Piñate and Vásquez, along with others, were allegedly responsible for paying at least $1 million in bribes to Bautista, the then-chairman of the Commission on Elections of the Philippines (Comelec).
The idea was to “obtain and retain business related to the supply of voting machines and election services for the 2016 Philippine elections and to secure contract payments, including exemption from payment of value-added tax.”
The winner of the 2016 presidential election in the Philippines was Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippine Democratic Party-People Power, who ruled from that year until 2022.
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2024-08-14 14:52:22
