CATARINA SCORTECCI
CURITIBA, PR (FOLHAPRESS)
The recent decision by STF (Supreme Federal Court) Minister Dias Toffoli involving the leniency agreement signed between Odebrecht and the Federal Public Ministry could have an impact on a series of inquiries and legal actions that have been taking place since 2017 against politicians from different spectrums.
Among the targets of investigations and processes related to the contractor that have not yet been closed, there are from Bolsonaro supporters, such as senator Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI) and the president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, as well as those linked to the PT, such as the former treasurer from the João Vaccari Neto party.
There are big names in the National Congress, such as the president of the Republicans and leader of the centrão, deputy Marcos Pereira (SP), and senator Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL).
Toffoli, on the 6th, established that the evidence and other data obtained from the contractor’s leniency agreement are useless “in any scope or degree of jurisdiction”. This includes data from the construction company’s payment systems, Drousys and MyWebDay.
There is still an appeal, but lawyers working in Operation Lava Jato saw the magistrate’s measure as a “shovel in the limelight” in Odebrecht’s controversial spreadsheets, which, according to executives from the business group, brought together the list of politicians (including parliamentarians, governors and ministers, always treated with code names) who allegedly received money for election campaign slush funds or bribes to serve the contractor’s interests.
See some politicians with cases still pending related to Odebrecht:
VALDEMAR COSTA NETO
Based on statements from Odebrecht, minister Edson Fachin authorized the opening of an inquiry to investigate the current president of the PL in 2017. Today the case is in the hands of minister Gilmar Mendes – without offering a complaint or proposal to archive it.
The minister’s last order is from December 2019, in which he asks for a statement from the PGR (Attorney General’s Office) regarding the continuity of the investigations and the STF’s competence to handle the case, as the former parliamentarian no longer has elective mandate.
The investigation is based on statements made by whistleblowers Pedro Augusto Carneiro Leão Neto and João Antônio Pacifico Ferreira, who reported bribery from 2007 onwards to Valdemar’s political group to ensure that Odebrecht carried out work on the North-South railway, carried out by the public company Valec.
On Friday (15), the reporter left a message at the office of his lawyer, Marcelo Bessa, but received no response until the report was published. Also contacted, the former deputy’s advisor informed that any manifestation would only come from the legal team itself.
CIRO NOGUEIRA
In 2020, the PGR filed a complaint for alleged crimes of passive corruption and money laundering against the current senator. However, the request has not yet been analyzed by the STF, which can accept or reject the accusations.
The opening of the investigation was based on statements made by whistleblowers, who pointed out that the parliamentarian, in the years 2010 and 2014, asked for money for his campaign and also for the PP, via slush fund.
According to reports, in 2010, the senator would have received R$300,000, registered in the Drousys system with the code name “Cerrado”. In 2014, R$1.3 million would have been transferred, in two installments.
In 2022, the defense of the politician, who was head of the Civil House in the Jair Bolsonaro government, asked for the complaint to be rejected “due to the complete lack of evidence”. “The ministerial accusations were based solely on the words of the collaborators and the unilateral spreadsheets presented by them”, says an excerpt from the defense.
RENAN CALHEIROS
In 2017, Edson Fachin accepted the PGR’s request to open an investigation against senator Renan and also against the then senator Romero Jucá (MDB-RR).
The investigation, which continues to be ongoing, is based on statements made by collaborators Marcelo Odebrecht, Cláudio Melo Filho and José de Carvalho Filho. According to reports, Odebrecht had paid bribes to be able to approve a provisional measure relating to tax benefits. They narrated the payment of R$5 million, recorded in the Drousys system.
Renan and Jucá’s defenses point out that the investigation has already exceeded five years and, during that period, they were unable to obtain any evidence of their participation in the case narrated by the whistleblowers.
MARCOS PEREIRA
The investigation into the deputy is in the DF Electoral Court, with no conclusion. The investigation was initiated based on reports from whistleblowers who pointed to transfers to reinforce the slush fund of allies of Dilma Rousseff’s (PT) presidential election campaign in 2014.
According to records in the Drousys system, R$7 million would have been delivered directly to Marcos Pereira, in favor of the Republicans (then PRB).
Last month, Marcos Pereira’s defense, carried out by the firm Moraes Pitombo, filed a complaint with the STF contesting the continuation of the police investigation, “even in the face of the declaration of the worthlessness of the evidence extracted from the Drousys system”.
According to his defense, the case continues “without a single investigative measure aimed at confirming the criminal hypothesis being even designated, at all carried out.” The complaint has not yet been analyzed by the rapporteur, Edson Fachin.
EDUARDO CUNHA
Former president of the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Cunha spent more than three years in prison in Paraná, but later obtained the annulment of his sentences.
One of its pending legal issues is an electoral action in Rio Grande do Norte that is related to the construction company, in which another former head of the Chamber, Henrique Eduardo Alves, is also accused. The complaint stated that a slush fund was paid to MDB in exchange for favors to the construction company. A former Odebrecht executive is also a defendant.
JOÃO VACCARI NETO
One of the defendants who was most often prosecuted in the Federal Court of Curitiba, the former PT treasurer still has pending actions today, such as one that is being processed in the DF Electoral Court. Known as the Torre Pituba case, this action derived from the Lava Jato phase in 2018, is one of those with the largest number of defendants in the operation – more than 40. The case involves Odebrecht and the alleged payment of bribes in the construction of the Petrobras headquarters in Bahia. An appeal is currently being analyzed by the STF as to which jurisdiction it should be processed in.
POLITICIANS BENEFITED BEFORE THE TOFFOLI DECISION
Dias Toffoli’s decision was taken in the judgment of a complaint filed in 2020 by today’s president Lula (PT). At the time, the PT member pointed out that the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba limited his access to documents from Odebrecht’s leniency agreement. First rapporteur of the case, the then minister Ricardo Lewandowski (retired in April) agreed with the PT member and signed decisions to guarantee the defense’s access to the data.
In 2021, Lewandowski decided that the evidence presented in Odebrecht’s leniency agreement had “irremediable blemishes”, and cited hacked dialogues from prosecutors to reinforce his position.
The decision was later confirmed by other ministers and, subsequently, a series of defendants in other cases related to Odebrecht in different arms of the Judiciary also requested the same benefit.
SEE SOME OF THOSE WHO OBTAINED FAVORABLE DECISIONS UNTIL LAST MONTH
- Sérgio Cabral, former governor of Rio
- Anthony Garotinho, former governor of Rio
- Pedro Paulo, federal deputy (PSD-RJ)
- Walter Faria, businessman
- Paulo Skaf, former candidate for the Government of SP
- Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio (PSD)
- Geraldo Alckmin, vice-president (PSB)
- Paulo Bernardo Silva, former minister
- Beto Richa, federal deputy (PSDB-PR)
- Gilberto Kassab, current state secretary (PSD)
The post Decision on Odebrecht could benefit Bolsonaro supporters, PT members and centrão leaders appeared first in Jornal de Brasília.
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