Brazilian judge annuls evidence of Odebrecht confessions in corruption scandal

a judge of Brazil annulled this Wednesday the evidence from the confessions of executives of the giant odebrechtimplicated in the corruption scandal “Lava Jato”, and affirmed that the imprisonment of President Lula, linked to the same investigation, was “one of the biggest legal errors in history” from the country.

In his decision, to which AFP had access, Federal Supreme Court judge José Antonio Dias Toffoli considered that the evidence from confessions of executives made within the framework of a collaboration agreement signed in 2017 by Odebrecht is “unusable” by “any jurisdiction”.

The agreement also provided for the payment of a fine of US$ 2.6 billion to the United States, Switzerland and Brazil.

In the Latin American giant, Odebrecht was accused by the prosecution of participating, along with other companies, politicians and intermediaries, in a network of bribes and rigged contracts with the state-owned Petrobras.

The network, uncovered in 2014 by research called “Lava Jato”became one of the biggest corruption scandals in the country.

The accusations against the company transcended Brazil, with legal cases open in other Latin American and African countries, and dozens of prominent politicians peppered with corruption accusations, including several former presidents.

Judge Dias Toffoli denounced in his office on Wednesday “serious consequences” of evidence obtained “outside the law (…) for hundreds of people investigated or prosecuted in Brazil and abroad.”

The magistrate has been a member of the highest court since 2009, when he was appointed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in his second term.

Lula spent 18 months in prison, between 2018 and 2019, after being convicted of corruption and money laundering in the case “Java Jato”under accusation of receiving bribes from another Brazilian construction giant, OAS.

But their convictions were overturned by another supreme court judge in March 2021. Three months later, former trial judge Sergio Moro, who sentenced Lula to prison, was declared “partial” by the supreme court.

“Lula’s imprisonment can be considered one of the biggest judicial errors in the country’s history,” declared Dias Toffoli.

Justice Minister Flávio Dino said in a message on the X network (formerly Twitter) that the magistrate’s decision “reaffirms the innocence of President Lula”.

The Union Attorney General’s Office, which defends the interests of the government, announced on Wednesday the creation of a group to investigate the actions of former judge Moro and the prosecutors of the “Lava Jato”.

Source: AFP