HACKER CLAIMS FORMER PRESIDENT BOLSONARO OFFERED HIM ‘BLANK CHEQUE’ TO TAMPER WITH EVM

As per Delgatti, his meeting with Jair Bolsonaro was set up by right-wing lawmaker Carla Zambelli, who paid the hacker 40,000 reais (USD 8,000) for his services.

He claimed that during the meeting, Bolsonaro allegedly urged him to consult experts at the defence ministry regarding the ‘request’. Purportedly Bolsonaro even offered to grant Delgatti a pardon in the event he faced legal consequences for the tampering.

Delgatti revealed, “He gave me a blank cheque to do what I wanted with the voting machines.”

“The idea was to take a machine … so I could install my app there and show the population that it is possible to press the button for one vote and end up with another.”

Delgatti further revealed that he was unable to hack a voting machine as per Bolsonaro’s request.

He said that after he explained why he could not hack into the electoral system, the Bolsonaro campaign asked him to tamper with a borrowed voting machine to make it appear, less than a month before the election’s first round, that the machine had been successfully hacked and results could be compromised. The fraudulent hack was to be shared with news media, Delgatti said, but it was canceled.

Bolsonaro’s lawyers said in a statement they will take judicial action against Delgatti, who they accused of “bringing false information and allegations, without any evidence.”

The lawyers acknowledged the hacker met with the former president and said the far-right leader ordered his defense minister to open investigations on the country’s electoral system based on claims he had heard from the hacker.

This revelation comes in the wake of an electoral court decision that has rendered Bolsonaro ineligible for public office until 2030. This decision, as per Reuters, was taken due to his abusing his presidential powers to undermine trust in Brazil’s electoral system. 

Speaking to Reuters, a person close to the Bolsonaro family described Delgatti’s allegations as “devastating.” 

During an interview with local broadcaster Jovem Pan, Bolsonaro rejected the accusations. However, he confirmed his meeting with the hacker. 

“There was the meeting and I sent him to the defence ministry to talk to technicians. He was there, and the matter died down,” he said.

Which countries no longer use e-voting?

Ireland: In 2006 the country dropped plans to use the machines because of security concerns.

Paraguay: In the early 2000s, the country had experimented with voting machines which it loaned from Brazil. In 2008 it returned to paper ballots.

Netherlands: In 2007, the country reverted back to paper ballots, after anti e-voting activists showed that it is not secure, using experimental hacking.

Germany: In 2009 the country stopped using voting machines, after a Constitutional Court ruled they were not transparent enough.

Electronic Voting Machine

Some 33 countries use some form of electronic voting. The integrity of the machines has been questioned in some of them.