Smartmatic Co-Founder Moves to Dismiss Foreign Bribery Charges

Smartmatic co-founder Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez is asking a federal court in Miami to toss criminal charges over bribes he allegedly directed to be paid to secure voting machine contracts in the Republic of the Philippines.

The government alleged a gratuities scheme, not a bribery scheme, Piñate told the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Because neither the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act nor the money laundering statutes criminalize the payment of gratuities, the indictment is legally deficient, he argued.

The indictment alleges that, starting in August 2016, Piñate and his co-conspirators directed or attempted to direct illicit ...