KRT Wire: U.S. digs for vote-machine links to Hugo Chavez and the Netherlands

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U.S. digs for vote-machine links to Hugo Chavez and the Netherlands

MIAMI - In the debate about the reliability of electronic voting technology, the South Florida parent company of one of the nation's leading suppliers of touch-screen voting machines is drawing special scrutiny from the U.S. government. Federal officials are investigating whether Smartmatic, owner of Oakland, Calif.-based Sequoia Voting Systems, is secretly controlled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, according to two people familiar with the probe.

Smartmatic's corporate papers, obtained in Curacao by The Miami Herald, reveal a convoluted trail of companies incorporated abroad and operating through dozens of proxy holders - a structure seemingly designed to cloak the true owners.

However, business records obtained by The Miami Herald in Willemstad's commercial registry provide no evidence of any Venezuelan government official or agency as director, associate, employee or proxy. What the records do show is the circuitous ownership structure with a paper trail leading from Willemstad to Amsterdam to Caracas to Delaware and then to Boca Raton and Oakland, Calif.Curacao records show that Smartmatic International Group has three statutory directors: Pinate and two companies - Curacao Corporation Co. and Netherlands Antilles Corporation Co. Curacao business records also show that the two statutory director companies have 28 ''proxy holders,'' all employees of Curacao International Trust Co. CITCO is an old Dutch financial services firm based in the building Smartmatic lists as its Curacao address. CITCO specializes in financial services for wealthy clients who seek confidentiality.

Smartmatic's Amsterdam address is also CITCO.