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According to the complaint, the auto companies would have promised $ 6 million to Lula and Carvalho in exchange for benefits for the sector.
Federal Public Ministry (MPF) today denounced former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and former minister Gilberto Carvalho for passive corruption in one of the processes of Operation Zelotes. Prosecutors in the case also accuse five more inquiries of benefiting vehicle manufacturers by issuing provisional injunctions.
According to the complaint, the auto companies would have promised $ 6 million to Lula and Carvalho in exchange for benefits for the sector.
“Faced with such a promise, public officials, in breach of functional duty, favored MMC [Mitsubishi] and Caoa automakers by editing, in unprecedented speed and procedure, Provisional Measure No. 471, on 11/23/2009, exactly in as well as knowledge of the text of the document before being published and even numbered after the adjustments have been made, “said the MPF.
Operation Zelotes was launched on March 26, 2015 and finds suspicions of manipulation of judgments in the Administrative Council of Tax Appeals (Carf), a kind of “court” that assesses debts of large taxpayers with the Internal Revenue Service. The activities of criminal organizations, parties, politicians and companies would have caused great damage to the public coffers. Zelotes is held jointly by the Federal Police, the Federal Revenue Service, the Federal Public Ministry and the Ministry of Finance. The crimes investigated in the operation are: Administrative Tax Law, Traffic of Influence, Passive Corruption, Active Corruption, Criminal Association, Criminal Organization and Money Laundering. In addition to the automakers cited in this new complaint, several other companies have already been targeted by Zelotes, such as Bradesco, BankBoston, Itaú Unibanco, Safra, Gerdau, Petrópolis, Petrobras, BRF, JBS, Light, LTF Sports Marketing, Santander, Brazil Trading , among others.
Understand the new complaint
The complaint involves an alleged “sale” of a 2009 provisional measure to the automotive industry. Those involved are accused of corruption in the preparation and editing of MP 471, which extended fiscal incentives to automakers installed in the North, Northeast and Midwest. The case was revealed by O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper in October 2015 and investigated in Operation Zelotes. In the complaint, sent to the 10th Federal Court of Justice in Brasilia, prosecutors from the Republic Frederico Paiva and Hebert Mesquita maintain that representatives of the automakers promised to pay “undue advantages” to intermediaries of the scheme and to political agents, among them Lula and Carvalho.
Marcondes and Mautoni Empreendimentos – a company of lobbyist Mauro Marcondes Machado, who represented CAOA (Hyundai) and MMC Automotores (Mitsubishi do Brasil) – would have offered Lula and Carvalho $ 6 million.
According to the MPF, the destination of money would be the costing of PT’s electoral campaigns. “Faced with such a promise, public officials, in breach of functional duty, favored MMC and CAOA vehicle manufacturers by editing, in an atypical speed and procedure, the Provisional Measure No. 471, on November 23, 2009, exactly in the terms ordered, clearing to the corruptors, even, knowledge of the text of it before being published and even numbered, after the adjustments made have been done “, punctuates in one of the excerpts. Also among the denounced are Mauro Marcondes, lobbyist Alexandre Paes dos Santos, former advisor to the Administrative Council of Tax Appeals (Carf) José Ricardo da Silva and the executives of automakers Carlos Alberto de Oliveira Andrade and Paulo Arantes Ferraz.
The MPF asks that the accused pay R $ 12 million as compensation to the treasury and fine for collective moral damages. In addition to ensuring the MP’s edition and approval in the Congress, prosecutors allege that fees were also paid to buy the cancellation of a debit of R $ 265 million that was the subject of an appeal in Carf. This case, however, is the subject of another criminal action in process in the 10th branch of the Federal Court in Brasília. According to the MPF, the group’s investiture with the government began in June 2009, when José Ricardo Silva received from the legal director of Marcondes and Mautoni two letters addressed to the then President of the Republic with requests for legislative amendment.
The documents were prepared by the company’s legal director, Ricardo Rett, and they even suggested that the change be made through PM, which eventually happened. Prosecutors highlight a message in which Alexandre Paes dos Santos states that Mauro Marcondes’ “collaborators” would have required R $ 10 million and that the amount was reduced to R $ 6 million after “Mauro (Marcondes) sensitization effort”. For MPF, “collaborators” would be former president Lula and Gilberto Carvalho. According to the MPF, the message addressed to those responsible for the company SGR Assessoria, owned by José Ricardo, was prepared after the company Caoa gave up paying its share in the combined.
The initial negotiation provided for the payment of R $ 33 million. In the complaint, prosecutors emphasize that documents and testimonies show that the MP has had an atypical course, going through three ministries in a single day: November 19, four before publication of the standard in the Official Gazette. Negotiations for the MP would have been made directly between the Ministry of Finance and the Presidency of the Republic, and the other briefs only endorsed the negotiations. The MPF explains that, for lack of evidence that they participated in the negotiations and illegal acts, former Finance Minister Guido Mantega and businesswoman Cristina Mautoni, the wife of Mauro Marcondes, were not denounced. The report has not yet been able to contact the accused.
