Fachin recommends a 33-year prison sentence for Collor for the bribery scheme

BRASÍLIA, DF (FOLHAPRESS) – Minister Edson Fachin, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), voted this Wednesday (17) for the conviction of former president Fernando Collor (PTB-AL) for a prison term of 33 years, 10 months and ten days in prison.

The demonstration was held in the criminal action stemming from Operation Lava Jato where Collor, who is also a former senator, is accused of receiving bribes from a corruption scheme at BR Distribuidora, a subsidiary of Petrobras.

Fachin, the reporter of the case, found Collor guilty only of the crimes of corruption, money laundering and criminal organization.

Other Supreme Court ministers will still vote in the process. The case was brought to court because it is close to the statute of limitations.

Fachin established a closed government for the beginning of Collor’s sentence. For the journalist, he does not have the right to be replaced by precautionary measures or conditional suspension of the sentence.

According to the PGR (General Attorney of the Republic) complaint, Collor would have received at least BRL 29 million in bribes between 2010 and 2014 in this scheme.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, the former senator requested and accepted a promise to illegally carry out the contract to change the flag of gas stations entered into between BR Distribuidora and DVBR (Derivados do Brasil), with the help of other defendants. .

Fachin also proposed a minimum compensation for moral damages totaling BRL 20 million, to be paid jointly by former president and businessmen Luis Pereira Duarte de Amorim and Pedro Paulo Bergamaschi de Leoni Ramos.

The first is the director of the Arnon de Mello Institute and Collor’s business manager; the second is appointed as the former senator’s operator. According to the complaint the two helped in the scheme.

Fachin also voted for the loss, on behalf of the Union, of property, rights and morals in respect of which the defendants were found guilty and banned from holding public office or work of any kind.

The Minister of STF said that the various acts of money laundering carried out by Collor enabled the concealment and imitation of the illegal nature of a large amount of corruption carried out within the scope of BR Distribuidora.

Fachin said that the defendant’s guilt is aggravated, “since membership of an organized crime group by a person who is usually trusted with the exercise of power involves a more severe sentence of disapproval than is appropriate in a civil case. Normally”.

“What emerges from the case being analyzed is a complete disrespect for the rules of mandatory compliance for those who perform public duties, for which there is no activity limit given to them”, he said.

The punishment recommended by Fachin was greater than that recommended by the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic, Lindôra Araújo.

He asked that Collor be sentenced to 22 years and eight months in prison, to support the understanding of former prosecutor Raquel Dodge in 2019.

Lindora said that the conduct described in the indictment is sufficiently substantiated in the record, not only through award-winning partnerships, but in financial reports.

He also mentioned as the primary documents seized or brought by the parties, the terms of the information and bank details and the records of entering the office of the money changer Alberto Youssef.

The money changer is designated as the operator of the transfer, which, analyzed together, according to the charges, leaves no doubt about the authorship and the reality of the crime committed.

Collor was the third senator to be accused in Lava Jato. The complaint was one of the first issued by the PGR within the scope of the operation, in August 2015. At that time, Fachin even denied the charges of embezzlement and obstruction of justice.