Suspended lower house speaker faces second indictment
The 10 other justices followed the opinion of the reporting judge, Teori Zavascki, based on an understanding that Cunha is the beneficiary and the actual controller of the Swiss accounts.
By unanimous vote on Wednesday (Jun. 22), Brazil's Supreme Court (STF) filed formal criminal charges against the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Cunha, who is currently suspended. He has received $1.5 million in kickbacks through unreported accounts in Switzerland.
Cunha is charged with corruption, money laundering, and tax evasion, and is now the defendant in two criminal cases in the Supreme Court in connection with the Petrobras corruption scandal investigated under Operation Car Wash.
The 10 other justices followed the opinion of the reporting judge, Teori Zavascki, based on an understanding that Cunha is the beneficiary and the actual controller of the Swiss accounts. For Zavascki, the evidence gathered by the Prosecutor General's Office (PGR) shows that Cunha used his trust account to receive $1.5 million in kickbacks in a move to cover up the source of the money.
“The 'Orion' account, which has been proven by documents in Switzerland, is owned by Mr. Eduardo Cunha. Registered with it is his address in Brazil, a copy of his passport, a US visa, his personal and work information, his date of birth, and his signature,” said Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot, who brought charges against Cunha with the Supreme Court in March.
In October 2015, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland sent documents to Brazil showing that there was $2.7 million in accounts believed to belong to Cunha and his family members. According to Operation Car Wash investigators, the money originates from kickbacks for a Petrobras contract to purchase an oil field in Benin that was valued at more than $34 million.
Cunha faced an existing case in the Supreme Court for receiving $5 million in kickbacks in connection with a Petrobras drillship contract. In the third complaint filed with the Supreme Court more recently, he is accused of charging bribes to obtain money for contractors in construction projects in Rio de Janeiro.
At the same sitting on Wednesday (22), the Supreme Court turned down an appeal to move a case against Cunha's wife and daughter out of the jurisdiction of the lower court judge in charge of Operation Car Wash, Federal Judge Sérgio Moro. The two are implicated as beneficiaries of the Swiss accounts ascribed to Cunha.
Cunha's response
After the Supreme Court ruling to indict him for the second time, Eduardo Cunha said he respects the Court's decision, but is confident that he will eventually be acquitted in the trial.
In a note, he restated the arguments used by his defense that trust funds are not accounts, and that the evidence would prove his point in the trial.
Although he said he respected the Court's decision, Cunha made a point of expressing “disgust” at the ruling, arguing the justices had failed to consider the evidence presented by his defense. “They have ignored the evidence filed by my counsel disproving an alleged meeting with Petrobras, and it [the meeting] was counted toward the decision of accepting the charges,” he said in his statement.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Suspended lower house speaker faces second indictment
