Lava Jato: Lula, Palocci and Okamotto became defendants for money laundering...

According to the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), the crime involved donations from Odebrecht to the Lula Institute to disguise transfers totaling R $ 4 million, between December 2013 and March 2014.

Two former Odebrecht executives also had their complaint accepted by federal judge Luiz Antônio Bonat, of the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba, in the late afternoon of Friday. They became defendants for the same crime.

Lula’s defense stated that the decision is an act of persecution and that criminal action is inappropriate. See the complete positioning at the end of the story.

The task force’s complaint was filed on September 14 this year. Former executives Hilberto Mascarenhas Alves da Silva Filho and Alexandrino de Salles Ramos de Alencar were later reported. The penalties provided for in the collaboration agreements have not reached the limit.

According to the decision, the complaint is based on converging statements from employees of the operation, electronic messages and documents, such as spreadsheets and receipts.

Bonat pointed out that a spreadsheet apprehended with Paulo Okamotto mentions amounts requested from several contractors and has payment notes of R $ 4 million to the institute on behalf of the construction company Norberto Odebrecht.

“Such evidence is sufficient, in a summary cognition judgment, for the receipt of the complaint, since it has minimal probative ballast to the disadvantage of the defendants named above. Deeper issues regarding criminal responsibility demand regular procedural instruction,” he said.

Cristiano Zanin Martins, a defense lawyer for former President Lula, said in a statement that this Friday’s decision “is yet another act of persecution against former President Lula because he agreed to sue another unreasonable criminal action”.

According to the note, the complaint “tries to transform licit and accounted donations to the Lula Institute – which is not to be confused with the person of the ex-president – into illicit acts, in evident practice of lawfare [guerra jurídica]”.

“The same decision disregards that Lula has been definitively acquitted by the Federal Court of Brasília of the absurd accusation of being part of a criminal organization, as well as disregarding the decision of the Supreme Federal Court that removed the competence to analyze the matter from the Federal Court of Curitiba. reasons, among others, the decision will be challenged by the legally applicable means ”, concludes the lawyer.

In a note, the Lula Institute reported that the donations “were legal, made via documented and accounted bank transfers, with due taxes declared and collected. Every cent collected was spent and accounted for exclusively in the Institute’s activities”.

“This institution was never used for illicit acts, it is responsible for the collection and legacy of the government that removed Brazil from the hunger map and was the stage for the elaboration of some of the most successful public policies in the country’s history,” he said.

THE G1 got in touch and awaits the return of Paulo Okamotto and Antonio Palocci’s defenses. The report tries to locate the lawyers of the others mentioned.

This report is being updated.