A man sought by the United States authorities for charges of active corruption and money laundering has been arrested by the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) in the Cascais area.
The offenses took place between May 2015 and at least February 2018. During this period, according to the PJ, the individual was involved in a “scheme of money laundering that implicated at least one million dollars in bribe payments made to the president of the Philippines Commission on Elections”.
In exchange for these payments, three contracts were awarded to a UK-based company providing voting machines and electoral services and another company based in Southern Florida, with a total value “approaching more than 182 million US dollars”.
“The bribes were paid to secure and maintain business dealings related to the supply of voting machines and electoral services for the 2016 Philippine elections and to ensure payments related to the contracts, including the payment of value-added tax”, states the PJ in its release.
The arrested individual will be brought before the Lisbon Court of Appeal for the imposition of preventive measures and, due to the accusations against him, could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
