Former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson Andres Bautista has been charged by the United States (US) Department of Justice (DOJ) for their role in an alleged bribery and money laundering scheme to retain and obtain business related to the 2016 Philippine elections.

This was after a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida returned an indictment on Thursday, Aug. 8 charging Bautista and three executives of an election voting machine and service provider company namely Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, 49, a Venezuelan citizen; Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 62, a US Citizen; and  Elie Moreno, 44, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel.

In the information provided by the US DOJ, according to the indictment, between 2015 and 2018, Pinate and Vasquez together with others, allegedly caused at least $1 million in bribes to be paid to Bautista, who was then chairperson of Comelec.

"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 agency 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," it added.

In order to conceal and disguise the nature and purpose of the payments, the co-conspirators made use of 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," it further explained.

According to the US DOJ, both Pinate and Vasquez are both charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one substantive violation of the FCPA.

On the other hand, Bautista, Pinate, Vasquez, and Moreno, 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," it said.

Meanwhile, the current Comelec chief, George Erwin Garcia said: "Let's presume everyone [is] innocent until the guilt is proved."