Brazil: former Lower House Speaker Cunha, "Rousseff's hangman", sentenced to 15 years in jail for corruption

A Federal Court sentenced Brazil’s former speaker of the Lower House, Eduardo Cunha, to more than 15 years in prison on Thursday for corruption, making him the highest-profile political conviction yet in the “Operation Car Wash” scandal. The former politician’s defense team said they would appeal the decision but Cunha will remain imprisoned pending appeal.

Cunha, who drove the successful impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff, was forced from his position as speaker in July and arrested in October on accusations he received millions in bribes from the purchase of an oil field in Benin by state-run oil company Petrobras.

Over 200 people have been charged in the “Operation Car Wash” probe, a far-reaching investigation that centers on bribes and political kickbacks from contracts at Petrobras. The Supreme Court is likely to approve soon the investigation of dozens of sitting politicians.

In February 2015, Cunha, a member of President Michel Temer’s Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) that for a decade was the main member of left-leaning Workers Party (PT) governments, defied the wishes of his own coalition to run for and win the speakership of the lower house of Congress.

Just six months later, he officially broke with the PT government of Rousseff, saying that she was using the Petrobras investigation as a tool of “political persecution” against him.

As speaker, only Cunha could allow impeachment proceedings to begin against Rousseff, whom critics accused of breaking budgetary laws. He did just that in December 2015, just hours after PT deputies cast deciding votes for him to face an investigation by the House’s ethics committee for lying about bank accounts he and his wife held in Switzerland.

By May, Rousseff was impeached and Temer installed as successor. But Cunha could not shake free of corruption allegations that eventually led to his downfall. Once he was kicked out of congress, Cunha lost the privilege given to sitting politicians that only the badly overburdened Supreme Court can try them.

His case was instead sent to the federal judge Sergio Moro, who has been the driving force behind Brazil’s fight against graft. Moro has a reputation for plowing through cases efficiently, with over 98% of his convictions in Car Wash cases being upheld by higher courts.

Cunha faces another trial for allegedly receiving US$5 million skimmed from Petrobras contracts for two drill ships in 2006 and 2007.

Source: Mercopress Agency

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Relator da Lava Jato no STF anunciará em abril decisão sobre “lista de Janot”

O Relator da Operação Lava Jato no Superior Tribunal Federal (STF), Ministro Edson Fachin, informou por meio de sua assessoria que decidirá sobre pedidos da Procuradoria-Geral da República (PGR) ainda no mês de abril.  No dia 14 de março, o Procurador-Geral da República Rodrigo Janot enviou 83 pedidos de abertura de inquérito contra políticos citados em delações por executivos da construtora Odebrecht. Espera-se que mais de cem políticos com foro privilegiado estejam entre os citados pela PGR. Os nomes ainda estão mantidos em sigilo e o caso tem causado nervosismo dentro do Congresso e no Planalto.

Fachin informou ainda que as decisões serão anunciadas em conjunto. A previsão inicial era de que o Ministro começaria divulgações dos pedidos já nesta semana. Além dos pedidos de abertura de investigação contra políticos, Rodrigo Janot solicitou 211 declínios de competência para outras instâncias da Justiça, nos casos que envolvem pessoas sem prerrogativa de foro, além de 7 arquivamentos e 19 outras providências.

Entre as decisões, também há a expectativa para que o Ministro-Relator acate o pedido do Procurador-Geral da República para que torne público todo o material. Todos os pedidos foram realizados a partir dos acordos de colaboração premiada firmados com 77 executivos e ex-executivos das empresas Odebrecht e Braskem no âmbito da Operação Lava Jato.

Na ocasião do envio dos pedidos da PGR, o material chegou ao STF em dez caixas que ficaram guardadas em uma sala cofre no 3º andar do prédio principal da Corte. O material, que é mantido em sigilo, já foi digitalizado e protocolado. Somente na última terça-feira (21) o ministro recebeu em seu gabinete todos os documentos. De lá para cá, tem analisado cada caso.

Na lista de Janot

Entre os 83 pedidos de abertura de inquéritos contra políticos, estão algumas das principais lideranças do Congresso Nacional. Os Presidentes do Senado, Eunício Oliveira (PMDB/CE), e da Câmara dos Deputados, Rodrigo Maia (DEM/RJ), bem como cinco Ministros do Governo Michel Temer: Eliseu Padilha (Casa Civil), Moreira Franco (Secretaria-Geral da Presidência), Aloysio Nunes Ferreira (Relações Exteriores), Gilberto Kassab (Ciência, Tecnologia e Comunicações) e Bruno Araújo (Cidades).

Também figuram na lista de Janot os senadores Aécio Neves (PSDB/MG), José Serra (PSDB/SP), Renan Calheiros (PMDB/AL), Romero Jucá (PMDB/RR) e Edison Lobão (PMDB/MA).

Fonte: Congresso em Foco e Agência Brasil

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