The Justice of Rio set at R$ 10 million the amount that former governor Sérgio Cabral and former first lady Adriana Ancelmo will have to pay by way of reparation for the damage caused to public coffers in the period between August 19, 2008 to April 3, 2014. The amount will still be subject to monetary restatement and late payment interest of one percent per month from April 2014. The decision is by the 8th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Justice of Rio.
The two were convicted last year of the crime of embezzlement for the private use of state government helicopters to transport family members, officials, politicians and friends. In the first instance, the conviction provided for the return of more than R$ 19 million.
The defenses of Cabral and Adriana appealed the decision and the 8th Criminal Chamber partially accepted the requests. According to the rapporteur of the case, judge Suely Lopes Magalhães, the authorship and materiality of the crime of embezzlement imputed to the defendants were demonstrated both by the extensive documentation of the case and by the testimonies collected in the investigation and in court.
Judge Suely Magalhães wrote in the decision that “observing the principles of proportionality and reasonableness, the amount of R$ 10 million is fixed, as a minimum amount for repairing the damages caused by the defendants to the public coffers, with monetary adjustment and interest of 1% per month from the harmful event, pursuant to art. 398 of the Civil Code and STJ Precedent 54, given that the obligation established herein arises from an illicit act, and it is also certain that as the sentence is dealing with criminal continuity, where there are several crimes linked to each other due to similar conditions of time, place, method of execution and others, so that the subsequent ones must be considered as a continuation of the first, the initial date of interest will be on April 3, 2014”.
What does the defense say?
Lawyer Patricia Proetti, who defends former governor Sérgio Cabral, said in a statement that “the ruling that upheld the criminal conviction against the former governor is unreasonable and totally illegal. Public Treasury Court, to an action of administrative improbity for the same fact and which was dismissed in a process that has already become final. that the flights were regular, the reports generated by the intelligence sector determined that air transport in state equipment was safer and much more economical for the public coffers, since the flights were carried out in full exercise of the prerogatives of the head of the state executive “.
THE Brazil Agency contacted the former first lady’s defense and is awaiting a position.
