http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-10-30T020731Z_01_N28456244_RTRUKOC_0_US-ELECTION-USA-MACHINES-CHAVEZ.xml&WTmodLoc=USNewsHome_C2_domesticNews-3WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading U.S. maker of electronic voting machines and its parent company said on Sunday they had voluntarily submitted to a federal review and denied any links to the leftist government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
The New York Times reported that the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States was conducting a formal inquiry into Smartmatic Corp. and its U.S. subsidiary Sequoia Voting Systems.
"No foreign government or entity -- including Venezuela -- has ever held an ownership stake in Smartmatic, and we have voluntarily filed with CFIUS to put to rest the baseless but persistent rumors about our ownership," Smartmatic Chief Executive Officer Antonio Mugica said in a statement from the company's U.S. headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida.
CFIUS, a multiagency panel headed by the U.S. Treasury Department, approves or rejects foreign takeovers of American companies. Typically, approvals of foreign acquisitions are granted within 30 days unless national security concerns are raised.