Reply #2: Sale Of Voting Machine Firm With Venezuelan Links Will Avoid U.S. Probe

[OhioChick]

December 22, 2006 (12:11 PM EST)

Voting machine provider Smartmatic Corp. and its Venezuelan owners will avoid a full U.S. national security investigation by putting the firm's Sequoia Voting Systems Inc. U.S. subsidiary up for sale.

Attention has been focused on the firm because of reports it has had business connections with the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who frequently attacks U.S. policy.

In an announcement Friday, Smartmatic said it has withdrawn from a review process that was scheduled to be carried out by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews foreign investments and acquisitions to determine whether they hold national security threats.

The firm got even closer attention after Chavez excoriated President Bush at the United Nations, calling him the devil incarnate. The CFIUS investigation was examining whether Smartmatic and Sequoia had or continue to have any connection to the Chavez government.

http://www.techweb.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196701695