A confidential US Embassy cable raises powerful questions about Smartmatic, alleging that its real ownership is hidden as it expands its operations into the United States.
The Embassy believes that the true owners are affiliated with, or fronting for, senior Chavez regime officials. Embassy political officers (Poloffs) met with Smartmatic executives, including co-founder and Chairman Antonio Mugica, who reneged on a promise to provide a Smartmatic machine to the Embassy for inspection.
The cable is signed by the Ambassador William Brownfield, a career foreign service officer.
Cable summary
“The Venezuelan-owned Smartmatic Corporation is a riddle both in ownership and operation, complicated by the fact that its machines have overseen several landslide (and contested) victories by President Hugo Chavez and his supporters. The electronic voting company went from a small technology startup to a market player in just a few years, catapulted by its participation in the August 2004 recall referendum. Smartmatic has claimed to be of U.S. origin, but its true owners — probably elite Venezuelans of several political strains — remain hidden behind a web of holding companies in the Netherlands and Barbados. The Smartmatic machines used in Venezuela are widely suspected of, though never proven conclusively to be, susceptible to fraud. The company is thought to be backing out of Venezuelan electoral events, focusing now on other parts of world, including the United States via its subsidiary, Sequoia.” (Emphasis added)
Highlights
- “Mugica has told Poloffs on several occasions that [co-founders] Anzola, Pinate, and he are the owners of Smartmatic, though they have a list of about 30 investors who remain anonymous.”
- “Mugica first approached the Embassy in 2004 when the company was bidding at the National Electoral Council (CNE) to provide a completely new electronic voting system. Mugica pitched Smartmatic as a U.S. company registered in Delaware with offices in Boca Raton, Florida. In fact, Poloffs had several discussions with Mugica in the course of facilitating his L-1 inter-company transfer visa to work in the United States. Mugica said the company’s corporate offices were in Boca Raton, but most of the research staff of some 70 employees remained in Caracas. Smartmatic essentially purchased its electoral expertise by hiring veteran election observer AMCIT Jorge Tirado and his team of consultants. Tirado served as the interface between Smartmatic and the CNE for several elections.”
- The cable contains sections subtitled, “Who Owns Smartmatic?” “Organized to Compete or Confuse?” “A Shadow of Fraud,” “At Least Corruption.”
- Smartmatic CEO “Mugica had agreed to loan a voting machine to the Embassy for examination. When Emboffs [embassy officers] arrived at the office, however, Mugica said he had changed his mind and instead suggested that we contact Smartmatic’s Boca Raton office to secure a test machine.)
- “Smartmatic is a riddle. The company came out of nowhere to snatch a multli-million dollar contract in an electoral process that ultimately reaffirmed Chavez’ mandate and all-but destroyed his political opposition. The perspective we have here, after several discussions with Smartmatic, is that the company is de facto Venezuelan and operated by Venezuelans. The identity of Smartmatic’s true owners remains a mystery. Our best guess is that there are probably several well-known Venezuelan businessmen backing the company who prefer anonymity either because of their political affiliation or, perhaps, because they manage the interests of senior Venezuelan government officials.” (emphasis added)
Source:
1. https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables.html
1. With all the changing names, secrecy agreements, and offshore shell companies, can we be satisfied that we know the identities of the true owners of Smartmatic?
2. Is there any indication that U.S. intelligence and counterintelligence services ever followed up on the U.S. Embassy’s concerns?
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