04/10/2024 – 19:17
The richest candidate in this year’s municipal elections is sugar businessman João Pinheiro (PRTB), who is aiming for mayor of Marília, in the interior of São Paulo. He was sentenced, in August this year, to two years and six months in prison – transformed into payment of a fine and provision of community service – for the crime of embezzlement after selling nine alcohol storage tanks valued at R$950,000 without having possession of the assets, according to the decision of the 3rd Criminal Court of Marília.
Pinheiro appeals to the São Paulo Court of Justice (TJ-SP). This Friday, the 4th, the Attorney General’s Office (PGJ) decided not to accept the appeal. When contacted, lawyer Luiz Eduardo Gaio Júnior, who represents João Pinheiro, stated that a new appeal will be made to reverse the conviction.
João Pinheiro is the owner of Sugar Brazil, which sells sugar derivatives such as ethanol, alcohol and food for human and animal consumption. To the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), he declared that he had assets of R$2 billion and 850 million. The amount is greater than the revenues of the municipality of Marília, which has a budget for 2024 estimated at R$1.6 billion.
On social media, Pinheiro often posts photos and videos on jets. To the Estadãohe said he owns eight planes, five jets and three twin engines, as well as three helicopters and 12 cars. None of these assets are declared in his application to the TSE.
João Pinheiro is an ally of the candidate for Mayor of São Paulo, Pablo Marçal (PRTB), and of Leonardo Avalanche, who heads Pablo Marçal’s party nationally. In a video published on social media, he shows a request for votes made by Marçal to voters in Marília.
According to the case records, businessman Mário César Policarpo Barbosa approached Pinheiro, in 2018, to purchase copper tanks and cabling, belonging to the BIOSEV plant, an industry that the PRTB candidate was negotiating to purchase.
The sale of the tanks and copper cabling was set at R$950,000. According to the São Paulo Court, Pinheiro asked for R$369,500 as a down payment and said he could pay the rest in installments. Policarpo Barbosa claimed to have made the down payment, but never received the items.
This happened because João Pinheiro was trying to buy the plant even after receiving the amount from Policarpo Barbosa for purchasing the items. In the end, the BIOSEV sale did not go ahead, and he was unable to pass on the items to the victim.
“Subsequently, [Policarpo Barbosa] made contact with the plant and ended up discovering that he had not purchased anything, it came to light that he had actually signed a contract, but he did not pay, he did not own anything and could not have sold anything without having paid what he had committed to the plant”, says the TJ-SP decision that condemned João Pinheiro.
THE Estadão contacted Mário César Policarpo Barbosa, but had not received a response until the publication of this text. The space remains open.
According to the case, which was opened in 2019, the victim was not compensated by Pinheiro. “He even handed over non-existent land as collateral, below its real value, as well as a BMW vehicle that was still sold. He also handed over checks that were not cleared. He did not seek compensation in civil court because he ran out of money to pay for the process. Your company went bankrupt,” prosecutor Larissa Crescini Albernaz recorded in the MP-SP report.
According to the MP-SP representative, there is evidence in the file that Pinheiro intended “to sell someone else’s property as his own”, which caused “huge damage to the victim”. “It can be seen that during the entire negotiation, the accused pretended to be the owner of the company BIOSEV, appearing to be suitable for acquiring the tanks, although the contract for the acquisition of the entire plant was still pending,” stated Albernaz.
In her opinion, Larissa Albernaz also mentions that Pinheiro’s appeal, which alleges a lack of evidence, should be rejected by the 9th Chamber of Criminal Law. “All steps were duly substantiated and are in line with the principles of individualization of punishment and proportionality,” he said.
The appeal does not yet have a date for analysis by São Paulo judges. If it is considered unfounded, Pinheiro can still appeal to higher courts such as the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) and the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
To the EstadãoGaio Júnior stated that the victim was compensated with the land, which would be valued at R$600 thousand, and that a new appeal will be filed with the TJ-SP to try to reverse the conviction. The lawyer also stated that the real value of the contract was around R$360,000, with a down payment of R$120,000, paid by the victim. The defense argues that the amount would not guarantee delivery, but rather the reservation of equipment.
The amounts cited by the defense are not in the case file filed against the PRTB candidate. “There is only proof of the entry in the records, which was R$ 120 thousand. This amount was to guarantee the delivery of the items after the completion of João’s contract with the plant”, said Gaio Júnior.
“There was no intent or elements that show the intention to defraud. It was a mistake proven by documents and the contract with the plant was canceled because what was in the contract was not delivered. Only, in the meantime, he had sold it to this guy [Policarpo Barbosa] because, in the commercial environment, it is common to guarantee the product that is stopped”, added the lawyer.
American businessman accused Pinheiro of failing to comply with R$37 million agreement
At the end of last month, American businessman Andrew Chow filed a police report with the São Paulo Civil Police (PC-SP) also accusing Pinheiro of embezzlement. As in the case of the fuel tanks, the victim says he made a contract and paid an advance to receive 20 tons of sugar, but did not receive the cargo,
In the document, Chow accuses the candidate of failing to comply with a contract worth US$6.8 million (R$37.1 million in the current dollar exchange rate). The information was revealed by the UOL portal and confirmed by Estadão.
According to the American, the cargo was not delivered despite payment of 30% of the contract value, that is, US$2.04 million (R$11.1 million). As in the case of BIOSEV, Gaio Júnior stated that the advance only guaranteed the reservation, and not dispatch to the customer. According to him, this would be completed after full payment of R$37 million.
Gaio Júnior also said that the defense will present documentation that proves the non-existence of a breach of contract. “He [Chow] failed to pay [o pagamento]. João didn’t have a guarantee, he sent it and he didn’t pay the rest? We will prove the default, João is willing to fulfill the contract”, said Gaio Júnior to Estadão.
This Friday, the 4th, he published a note on Instagram defending himself against the accusation made by Chow. According to Pinheiro, the American breached the contract and failure to pay in full would make it impossible to deliver the tons of sugar.
“All documents will be attached to the BO, proving the good faith and honesty of João Henrique Pinheiro in order to comply with the contract, making himself available for further clarification”, says the note from the candidate for mayor of Marília.
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