Brazil journalist: ex-president Fernando Henrique's money meant for their son

In a testimony that lasted over five hours, heard by the Federal Police Thursday (Apr. 7), journalist Mirian Dutra Schmidt confirmed having a son with former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and that all resources she received from him aimed at funding the studies of their child, born in 1991. The details concerning the testimony were turned over to the press on Friday (8) by her lawyers José Diuogo Bastos Neto and Maíra Beauchamp Salomi.

According to the lawyers' statement, Dutra said that after the birth of her child, she decided of her own will to move to Europe, where “she has been living uninterruptedly up to this day.” Since then, her counsel says, the former president financed all of “the son's studies since the beginning of school to the present day.” Tomás is currently pursuing a master's degree in Economic Sciences.

“During that period, ex-President Fernando Henrique Cardoso carried out the payment transactions with an educational purpose in different ways, first by delivering the necessary amounts, then by depositing into the mother's bank account, and currently directly into Tomás's account,” the note says.

The communication goes on to state that Dutra told the Federal Police she was an exclusive employee of Rede Globo for 30 years, but her ties with the broadcaster ended in December 2015. In this time span, the journalist lived “on her own salary, and did not receive from the former president funds other than what was specifically earmarked for Tomás's studies,” Dutra's counsel said. Reached by Agência Brasil, the Fernando Henrique Cardoso Institute has not yet spoken about the statement.

Testimony

Dutra was heard as part of an inquiry initiated in February this year on possible wrongdoings in Fernando Henrique's transfers to the journalist overseas. She was called for questioning after she made statements to Brazilian magazines accusing the erstwhile president of using a company to send money to her child abroad.

In an interview with Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, Dutra said the first transfer was made through a fictitious contract late in 2002 with Cayman Islands-based Eurotrade. The company was a subsidiary in the Brasif group, which then held the monopoly over duty-free shops, a service overseen by the federal government. Even though she did give Tomás the money, Mirian Dutra said Fernando Henrique never admitted to being his father. When asked why she had waited until now to bring the facts to light, the journalist said “it's time for people to know the truth.”

According to her lawyers, Dutra said she did not mention Brasif while talking to the Federal Police. After being contacted by Agência Brasil, Brasif declared that Eurotrade, an international logistic platform for the operations of Brasil Duty Free Shop, contracted “journalist Mirian Dutra in December 2002 to conduct research studies on prices at stores and duty-free shops in Europe,” and that “former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso took no part in the contraction, nor did he effect any deposit to Eurotrade or any Brasif company.” The firm also declared that Eurotrade and Brasil Duty Free were sold in 2006.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira