Brazil’s Supreme Court overturned decisions against Marcelo Odebrecht in Operation Lava Jato
May 22, 2024
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Supreme Court of Brazil on Tuesday overturned the regional court’s decisions against Marcelo Odebrecht for which he was convicted of corruption under Operation Lava Jato, official sources said.
Supreme Court of Brazil on Tuesday overturned the regional court’s decisions against Marcelo Odebrecht for which he was convicted of corruption under Operation Lava Jato, official sources said.
The above, in connection with irregularities in the judicial process, given that there were collusion between the prosecutor’s office and the judge who presided over the case of Sergio Moro, the same one that at the time convicted the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in a trial that was later annulled.
“Given the content of frequent dialogues between the magistrate and the prosecutor about the plaintiff, as well as about the companies that he led, The confusion of the function of the prosecution with the function of the judge is obvious. undermines the foundations of a democratic criminal process,” said judge José Antonio Diaz Tofolli, according to Agencia Brasil.
The judge noted that disclosure of exchanged messages showed illegal behavior such as threatening family members of a businessman, the need to renounce the right to defense as a condition for obtaining freedom and pressure on a lawyer.
Magistrate’s Instructions does not apply to decisions arising from the agreement signed by the former president and heir of the Odebrecht group, in which he admitted his guilt and exposed his accomplices in exchange for legal benefits.
In addition to overturning the decisions of the Thirteenth Federal Court of Curitiba, the magistrate also ordered suspend all criminal cases brought against the businessman.
According to Diaz Toffoli, some participants in Operation Lava Jato “They took arbitrary measures in handling the case against the businessman”acting in a biased manner and outside of one’s competence.
The magistrate’s decision was in response to a request from Marcelo Odebrecht’s defense on the grounds that His case was similar to that of other defendants in Operation Lava Yato. whose cases were canceled due to irregularities in the investigation.
Odebrecht was arrested in June 2015. is accused of being one of the participants in a multimillion-dollar corruption scheme uncovered during Operation Lava Yato. After initially denying any wrongdoing and reneging on a damages agreement with authorities, the businessman changed his position as the investigation progressed and several of his company’s executives were arrested.
Photo: Reuters Archive
He subsequently signed an agreement in which admitted his guilt and provided information in exchange for legal benefits. Dozens of company executives and former executives have exposed cases of corruption related to public works in Brazil and other Latin American countries.
Last September the same judge canceled all evidence obtained under cooperation agreements with the construction company Odebrecht, which targeted several politicians and businessmen from Brazil and other countries in the so-called Operation Lava Jato.
This decision was a response to a request from the defense of the President of Brazil. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who spent 580 days in prison and was found guilty of corruption and money laundering in a trial that was later quashed and based in part on evidence provided by Odebrecht.
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Most of the decisions overturned on Tuesday against Marcelo Odebrecht were said the then thirteenth judge of Curitiba, Sergio Moro, now senator- author of the verdicts against Lula and who later served as Minister of Justice in the government of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
Advocate Miguel Ontiveros, who participated in the defense of former Pemex director Emilio Lozoya, was assured in September 2023 of Aristegui Live, that following the decision of the Brazilian Supreme Court to annul the evidence used in the Lula da Silva case, The case against the construction company will fall apart around the world.
In its decision, the court found the case that landed Lula in prison in 2018 to be “humanity’s greatest judicial scandal” and described it as “a veritable snake egg” of attacks on democracy.
Ontiveros noted that this is evidence that did not have judicial control and the storage of which was violated, among other illegal actions, therefore it is noted that “The events are so serious that they will have consequences throughout the world.”
“The case will fall apart, it’s zero,” He also made predictions for other Odebrecht processes around the world based on Brazilian tests.
(according to information from EFE, Europe Press And Aristegui News)
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