Obama asked: Investigate Smartmatic

A GROUP OF FILIPINO-AMERIcans, led by businesswoman Loida Nicolas-Lewis, has asked President Barack Obama to investigate the alleged questionable activities of Smartmatic in the US, and its implications on tomorrow’s national elections.

In particular, the group wants the US government to probe the murky corporate structure of Boca Raton, Florida-based Smartmatic Corp.—the parent firm of locally-incorporated Smartmatic-TIM Corp.—which it believes

is owned by “unknown Venezuelan investors operating via proxy European ventures.”

“There is reason to believe that Smartmatic has connections to the Hugo Chavez regime in Venezuela,” said Nicolas-Lewis who is the sister of former National Anti-Poverty Commission chair and Hyatt 10 member Imelda Nicolas.

At the same time, the busi- nesswoman complained that the murky corporate structure of Smartmatic also would make it difficult for the Philippine government to assign accountability or pursue damages from the firm should the automated polls go awry.

Gene Gregorio, SmartmaticTIM’s media officer, said the company was not “worried” by Nicolas-Lewis’ letter to the US President.

“They’re trying to rehash a story based on market share,” he said, referring to a past investigation by US lawmakers of Smartmatic US. “We’re not really worried about that. We did nothing wrong,” he said.

According to Nicolas-Lewis, Smartmatic-TIM is owned by USbased Smartmatic Corp., which also filed incorporation papers in Caracas, Venezuela. Another firm—Smartmatic International Holdings B.V.—is registered in the Netherlands. This firm is owned solely by Amola Investments N.V., which is registed in Curacao, a Dutch-administered island off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast.

Meanwhile, some Smartmatic registration documents give the firm’s address in the Barbados in the West Indies, whose registry has no less than seven Smartmatic-linked firms listed.

“The corporate name of the foreign company and its incorporation papers [should] be clear so that any complaint to be filed by the Philippine government in the future can be directed against the specific corporation involved,” Nicolas-Lewis said.

Smartmatic-TIM Corp. bagged a landmark P7.1-billion deal to automate tomorrow’s national and elections. The process has been bugged by glitches, while both the firm and the Commission on Elections have been criticized for their lack of transparency.

Nicolas-Lewis pointed out that Smartmatic was incorporated in Florida in 2000 but that its ultimate owners may be Venezuelans.

“One investigation revealed that Venezuelan officials were behind the incorporation of Smartmatic,” she said. “Accord- ing to registry documents that went missing, the incorporation of Smartmatic took place in the Fifth Mercantile Registry located on the ground floor of Tower B in Cubo Negro Building in Chuaro, Caracas. The head of the said Registry was the daughter of Venezuela’s Vice President Jose Vicente.”

She also pointed out that in the registry of the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce, the company was registered as Smartmatic International Holding B.V., with its sole shareholder Amola Investments N.V.

“This sole shareholder was incorporated in the Registry of the Chamber of Commerce of Curacao under number 91615,” Nicolas-Lewis said. “A search showed, however, that Amola Investments N.V. did not exist in the Curacao Chamber of Commerce. The incorporation number 91615 contained information not related to Amola Investments but to Smartmatic International Group N.V.”

The Fil-Am group’s sleuthing also revealed that the managing director of Smartmatic International Holding B.V. as shown in the Amsterdam Registry is Trust InternationalManagement (TIM) B.V. and both companies operate from the same address, she said.

Smartmatic’s acquisition of US-based Sequioa Voting Systems a few years ago was investigated by the US government for possible ties with the Venezuelan government.

The company later withdrew from the deal in December 2006 “and sold Sequioa so its company ownership was never clarified,” Nicolas-Lewis said.

Nicolas-Lewis said the Comelec, by its decision to enter into a contract with Smartmatic, “has let the public down.”

Gregorio noted that NicolasLewis had partisan motives for raising an old issue. Gregorio said Nicolas-Lewis’ sister was Imelda Nicolas, who served as a ranking government official in former President Corazon Aquino’s administration. Aquino’s son, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, is running for president under the Liberal Party.

“What has the US government got to do with the Philippine elections? That’s meddling,” Gregorio said. As for accountability issues, Gregorio said Smartmatic-TIM Corp., a joint venture company with a Filipino firm, will be responsible for it.

Smartmatic has disclosed, he said, that its owners are families in Venezuela.