“Harvard Professor Ricardo Hausmann, a former Venezuelan official who also has worked as the chief economist of the Inter-American Development Bank, said any investor holding a 28 percent stake in a company would likely have substantial power to make decisions,” the Miami Herald reports on May 28, 2004.
Bizta designed the election software for Smartmatic.
“‘For example, Verizon is the largest shareholder in CANTV [Venezuelan phone company], holding 28 percent, and it has control of the company’s management,’ said Hausmann, who sits on the CANTV board. With Bizta, ‘The government’s influence will depend on the arrangement between the government and other shareholders,'” according to the report.
Source:
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, document package to Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, May 4, 2006.
1. Letter_to_Sec_Dep_Treasury_CarolynMaloney.pdf
1. Is it ethical for a regime to own such a large percentage of an international electoral systems development company?
2. With National Electoral Commission chief Jorge Rodriguez providing the money and terms, Venezuelan official Omar Montilla (FONCREI) on the Bizta board, and 28 percent of the shares given to government for a mere $200,000, would the regime dictate the terms of how the software was built to ensure the rigging of elections in the regime’s favor?
3. What was the arrangement between the Venezuelan government and other Bizta shareholders?
4. How did the other shareholders of Bizta Corp. guarantee they would be able to run fair elections through their voting software, being the Venezuelan government itself the largest shareholder and having substantial power to make decisions?
5. Did those shareholders and principals ever expose or denounce the Venezuelan government’s influence?
6. How do those shareholders credibly defend their track record since that time?
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