06/08/2024 – 18:29
Documents from a transportation company, a guest book from a hotel in Moema and the recorded testimony of three former Odebrecht employees have given new life to an administrative misconduct lawsuit targeting Vice President Geraldo Alckmin. Given this evidence, considered ‘independent’, the São Paulo Court of Justice refused to close a case regarding alleged transfers – not declared to the Electoral Court – to Alckmin, at the time he occupied the Palácio dos Bandeirantes and served as governor.
Alckmin’s defense argues that the grounds for the public civil action “have already been the subject of several court decisions, including by the Supreme Federal Court, and have never prospered.” For the vice president’s lawyers, all the alleged evidence in the case “was obtained illegally and has already been declared useless by the Supreme Federal Court.”
The request to interrupt the action was supported by a decision by Minister Dias Toffoli, of the STF, who decreed the annulment of the evidence resulting from the contractor’s leniency agreement in the Lava Jato Operation process.
The decision that keeps the action alive was published on the 25th, after analyzing a request from Marcos Antonio Monteiro, former Secretary of Economic Development in the Alckmin government in São Paulo.
Monteiro requested that the 13th Public Treasury Court of the Capital decide on the viability of continuing the misconduct action in which he is cited.
The action cites Alckmin and seven other people considering the decision of Minister Dias Toffoli that annulled all evidence obtained through the Odebrecht leniency agreement.
“I understand that there are no circumstances that would allow us to rule out the alleged practice of acts of administrative impropriety, and the process should continue, under penalty of denying access to justice. It is worth noting that, in the case of a Public Civil Action, the existence, in theory, of a harmful act is sufficient and, therefore, as in the criminal area, the principle in dubio pro societate applies”, recorded the court order.
The decision can still be appealed.
The Court’s assessment is that, even with the exclusion of evidence collected from the systems of Odebrecht’s Structured Operations Department – the construction company’s bribery machine – “other independent evidence remains that supports the continuation of the procedural progress”.
In the improbity action, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of São Paulo highlights spreadsheets containing alleged transfers to Marcos Monteiro and Alckmin.
The court of the 13th Public Treasury Court of São Paulo cites documents delivered to the Public Prosecutor’s Office by Rogério Martins – who was allegedly hired to deliver bribes –, by money changer Álvaro José Galliez Novis and by the Transportadora de Valores Transmar.
According to the court, the documents indicate that Martins, an employee of Novis, stayed at a hotel in São Paulo and there received cash from the transport company to pay bribes, according to passwords received from Odebrecht.
According to the records, the withdrawal of the amounts took place in the hotel room in bundles of cash.
“The evidence obtained by the Civil Inquiry shows that the amounts received on August 7, 2014 and September 11, 2014 were effectively paid by Rogério Martins to a bearer indicated by the defendant Marcos Antonio Monteiro, a public servant, for the benefit of the co-defendant Geraldo José Rodrigues Alckmin Filho, on the premises of the Mercure Privilege hotel, in Moema, as can be seen from the analysis of the list of guests who checked in there on the respective days”, recorded the ruling of the 13th Tax Court that denies dismissing the improbity action.
The court understood that the investigation that underpins the Public Civil Action revealed the manner in which the alleged acts of misconduct were carried out. “The defendant Marcos Antonio Monteiro, in the exercise of a public function and for the benefit of Geraldo José Rodrigues Alckmin Filho, obtained undue advantage, receiving money from Construtora Norberto Odebrecht S/A which, through the defendants Luiz Bueno and Benedicto Júnior, acknowledged that they had a direct relationship with the works carried out with the Government of the State of São Paulo, which, at least in theory, characterizes an act of administrative misconduct”, says the ruling.
The document also contains video revelations from three former Odebrecht employees. According to the court, they confirmed the content of reports released at the time. The 13th Public Finance Court also notes that the evidence contained in the civil investigation “is immune to contamination, since it has no relation, either directly or by derivation, to the plea bargain agreement.”
WITH THE WORD, ALCKMIN’S DEFENSE
“Vice President Geraldo Alckmin’s defense reiterates that the grounds for the public civil action have already been the subject of several court decisions, including by the Supreme Federal Court, and have never prospered. The defense understands that all the alleged evidence contained in this lawsuit was obtained illegally and has already been declared useless by the Supreme Federal Court. As for Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, there is no fact that remains, and we trust that this lawsuit will soon be dismissed.”
The President of the Republic of Chile, José Eduardo Alckmin, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Ministry of Finance and Finance.
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