He reappeared with a different look. He no longer has a beard or very short hair. The former superintendent of Odebrecht, Jorge Simoes Barata, reappeared at his preventive detention hearing, in which the Prosecutor’s Office is requesting his preventive detention for 36 months. This, for the crime of aggravated collusion in two projects: Gasoducto Andino del Sur (Kuntur project) and Gasoducto Sur Peruano.
WATCH: PJ suspends pretrial detention hearing against Jorge Barata
According to prosecutor Norma Geovana Mori Gómez, at the hearing held at the Sixth National Preparatory Investigation Court, Barata allegedly associated with the presidential couple Ollanta Humala and Nadine Heredia, with the aim of damaging the State’s assets.
According to prosecutor Mori, Barata is accused of the termination of the Kuntur project, the conquest of the new Southern Peruvian Gas Pipeline (GSP) project, the illegal return of the guarantee, and the transfer of the impact of the GSP environmental study.
Due to lack of time, the hearing was suspended and postponed to next Wednesday, the 25th, at 2:30 p.m.
IT WAS SUSPENDED IN JULY
Last July, it is recalled, the previous hearing was suspended. In this hearing, the prosecutor’s request for 36 months of preventive detention against Jorge Barata, former director of Odebrecht in Peru, for the two Gasoducto cases, was to be evaluated.
César Nakazaki, the businessman’s lawyer, explained to this newspaper that the Sixth National Preparatory Investigation Court made this decision after noticing that his client was not properly notified about the investigation at his home in Brazil.
“The first notification that guarantees the process for a person to be able to defend themselves must be made at their real address, as provided by law; and Barata, who lives in Brazil, did not receive anything in her country,” he said.
Nakazaki said that this procedure is carried out through International Judicial Cooperation, a mechanism that was suspended by Brazil at the request of Odebrecht, as revealed by Perú21.
“In addition, since Barata’s native language is Portuguese, the documentation must be translated into that language,” said the lawyer.
He added that the judge has demanded that this requirement be met in order to convene a new hearing.
However, during Monday’s hearing, prosecutor Mori stressed that Jorge Barata does not need a translator from Portuguese to Spanish to defend himself.