Former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista cleared his innocence after the United States government filed a case against him for receiving money from election technology supplier Smartmatic during the 2016 Philippine elections.

Bautista asserted the accusations against him through his social media platform, “X,” formerly known as Twitter, saying that he was surprised to find out about the complaints.

He added that he had never been contacted by the US Department of Homeland Security about it, defending that the 2016 elections were hailed by various independent national and local election stakeholders as the best managed in the country’s electoral history.

On the other hand, former Comelec Commissioner and Smartmatic Spokesperson Christian Robert Lim stated that the company preferred not to comment on the issue.

He said that Bautista did not participate much during the steering committee meetings back then and that he had no idea how the former Comelec chairman dealt with the suppliers.

In 2017, Bautista was impeached from his position after allegations of his unexplained wealth.