WASHINGTON, D.C.: The US Justice Department has filed money-laundering charges against Andres Bautista, former chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the Philippines, in a case involving four executives from subsidiaries of Smartmatic, the technology firm that provided the Philippines vote counting machines (VCMs) it used for the presidential elections in 2016, according to court documents cited by CNN.

The report said Bautista had awarded Smartmatic a $199 million contract to supply 94,000 VCMS for the election won by Rodrigo Duterte.