Prosecutors accept charges against Eike Batista
Eike Batista being taken to prison.
In an announcement made today (Feb. 10), federal prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro reported they have accepted the charges filed against former Rio Governor Sérgio Cabral and EBX entrepreneur Eike Batista. They are being accused of active corruption, money laundering, and illegal transfer of funds abroad.
Seven others have been targeted by the complaints lodged by federal agents as a result of spinoffs of Operation Car Wash. Of the total, six have been taken to state penitentiaries, among whom Batista and Cabral.
Car Wash investigators accuse the entrepreneur of active corruption and money laundering for having made two illegal payments to Cabral, totaling $16.5 million and $320 thousand, in exchange for benefits in business.
The prosecutors said that the payment, particularly the first one, benefited Batista's companies and coincides with procurements and license requests for enterprises such as the Superport of Açu, in northern Rio de Janeiro state, and the Port of the Southeast, also in Rio.
“Mr Eike Batista used to have several interests in the state, a number of enterprises, and many of the plans hung on decisions of the state, above all decisions to be made by the governor, and Mr Eike couldn't just give the governor $16.5 million as a gift, and the governor couldn't have accepted it. It's that simple,” said Leonardo Cardoso de Freitas, Car Wash coordinator in Rio.
According to the prosecutors, Cabral requested $16.5 million from Batista in 2011, paid by means of a transaction carried out by the executive's adviser and right hand, lawyer Flávio Godinho, also targeted for active corruption and money laundering.
Part of the funds ($4.7 million) was transferred to Cabral through a fraudulent contract on the purchase and sale of a gold mine overseas. Another portion was transferred through Petrobras, Vale, and Ambev, in the US. The operation was also supported by foreign currency dealer Renato Chebar, who disclosed secret information on the scheme in exchange for a shorter sentence. He and his brother Marcelo, who operated Cabral's account, were targeted for illegal transfer of funds from Brazil.
In 2013, Operation Car Wash identified kickbacks from Batista's companies to the onetime governor through the law firm of Cabral's wife Adriana Ancelmo. She pocketed from the EBX Group $320 thousand for services never provided, prosecutors claim. In a testimony to the police, Cabral's wife denied having received the amount “as kickbacks.”
In clarifications given by Batista in 2016 as part of a voluntary testimony, he said the payment stemmed from consultancy services from Adriana Ancelmo's firm, as recommended by government-run bank Caixa Econômica. The financial institution confirmed the talks with Batista, but denied they had recommended Ancelmo's firm for any operation. The entrepreneur's statements were seen as an attempt to deceive investigators and obstruct justice.
For the two payments, Eike Batista may be sentenced to up to 44 years in jail, and Cabral for up to 50, even though sentences in Brazil must be below 30 years.
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: Prosecutors accept charges against Eike Batista
