Minister Dias Toffoli, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), annulled the convictions of the former president of the construction company OAS, Léo Pinheiro, in the Operation Lava Jato investigations. The full text of the minister’s decision has not yet been released.
The decision was made following an extension request made by the accused’s defense based on other decisions by the minister that annulled Lava Jato procedures. The injunctions recognized that former judge Sergio Moro was partial in carrying out the convictions.
One of the main whistleblowers of the operation, Pinheiro had his award-winning collaboration approved in 2019 by the Supreme Court. He then left prison and began serving house arrest, with monitoring by an electronic ankle bracelet. Due to the Lava Jato investigations, Pinheiro was imprisoned for 3 years and 4 months in the Federal Police (PF) prison in Curitiba.
Pinheiro’s statements were used in the processes that led to the conviction of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, then former president, in the triplex case. The convictions against Lula were annulled by the STF, which considered that there had been irregularities and partiality in Moro’s decisions.
In a statement, Léo Pinheiro’s defense, which is made up of lawyers Maria Francisca Accioly and Daniel Laufer, celebrated Minister Toffoli’s decision.
“Léo Pinheiro’s defense praises the recent decision made by Minister Dias Toffoli, which reaffirmed the commitment to Justice and guaranteed impartiality and equity of position in relation to all other actions that have already declared the nullity of Operation Lava Jato”, says the note.
