He Odebrecht case in Brazil continues to fall. After several months, the Federal Court of Curitiba ratified the decision of the federal supreme judge, José Antonio Dias Toffoli, and annulled the investigation and judicial acts against Marcelo OdebrechtThe ruling is based on accusations of due process violations attributed to former judge Sergio Moro and the Lava Jato team.
The defense of Odebrecht He had argued that his client’s case was similar to that of other defendants in the Lava Jato case, whose cases were annulled due to irregularities in the investigations. According to the lawyer, the businessman had received threats against his family and had been forced to renounce his right to a defense.
His request was successful. The decision undoes the accusation against Odebrecht, which would be freed from the charges against it. As a result, the investigations of the Lava Jato case in Brazil will be affected. Will the same happen in Peru?
Rafael Vela on Odebrecht’s annulment of charges in Brazil: “It will not affect the case in Peru”
The coordinator of the Special Team of the Lava Jato Case, Senior Prosecutor Rafael Velaassured that there is no relation with the case in Peru, since it involves criminal activities of Marcelo Odebrecht in Brazil and that, in addition, “he has no pending criminal cases in Peru.” “Here, the one who made the decisions was Jorge Barata,” he told this media.
“Marcelo has not committed any crimes in Peru. Criminal laws are territorial. When someone commits a certain crime in a country, it is that State that must judge him. That is why the distinction is made with Barata. He did commit any crimes in Peru. He committed his crimes here, unlike Odebrecht, which allegedly committed all of its crimes in Brazil,” he said.
On the other hand, he explained that the Brazilian decision could be used in the media by the defense of those under investigation. “They could use it in the media, in the sense of the decline of the criminal case in Brazil. However, it is a phenomenon that has begun some time ago. The case is being affected in that country and the defense will try to establish that the Lava Jato case follows the same course here,” he indicated.
He also confirmed that the withdrawal of Jorge Barata’s benefits as an effective collaborator does not affect the oral trial for the Cócteles case. “The criminal procedural law says that if a witness does not appear at trial, his statements will be read because they are already accredited. Barata’s statements will be read. In that sense, there is no direct impact. The only thing that is done is to request the revocation of his benefits,” he explained.
For his part, Fernando Silva, Leo Pinheiro’s lawyer, assured RPP that in our country there would not be any major impact, because the Brazilian businessman is a witness to very few cases linked to Car Wash in Peru.
“I think this is news rather from a macro point of view. That is, the case Lava Jato in Brazil has suffered many failures, many blows from the Supreme Court judges of Brazil. So if we reflect that in Peru, it is likely that some circumstance like this will occur,” he said.