Brazil’s Supreme Court temporarily suspends Odebrecht’s fine

Brazil’s Supreme Court made a provisional decision by suspending the 8.5 billion reais (approximately $1.7 billion) fine imposed on the construction company Odebrecht due to its involvement in corruption cases.

Judge José Antonio Dias Toffoli questioned the circumstances that led Odebrecht, a key player in the Lava Jato operation, to accept a collaboration agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office that entailed the payment of this large fine.

In his ruling, the judge stated that there was at least a “reasonable doubt as to the requirement of voluntariness” on the part of the company when signing the agreement that resulted in the imposition of the penalty. In addition, he pointed out that Odebrecht must have the “conditions to evaluate whether illegalities were committed.”

Dias Toffoli referred to the revelations that emerged in the context of Operation Spoofing, which exposed questionable exchanges of messages between then judge Sergio Moro and prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol related to the conduct of Operation Lava Jato.

The court document also mentions the possibility of “collusion” between the trial judge and the prosecuting body, with the aim of creating a “legal-procedural scenario” that favours the bodies involved rather than protecting the rights of the defence.

This decision follows an application by the company, which changed its name to Novonor following the outbreak of the scandal. Novonor seeks to analyze the documents related to the Spoofing operation in order to be able to “re-evaluate” the previously established agreements.

As a result of this scandal and the loss of contracts, the company was forced to start a legal restructuring process in 2019, due to a debt estimated at R$80 billion.

K. Tovar

Source: Bancaynegocios

(Reference image: @NewsLiberdade. X)

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