The 5th Panel of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) decided, this Tuesday (24), to annul a conviction against businessman Milton Schahin in the context of Operation Car Wash.
The case involves an alleged payment of a bribe to former Petrobras employees in exchange for a contract with the oil company.
According to the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), this contract to operate the Vitória 10,000 vessel served to pay off a debt of R$ 12 million of cattle rancher José Carlos Bumlai with Banco Schahin.
Also involved in the case are former Petrobras director Nestor Cerveró and former Workers’ Party (PT) treasurer João Vaccari Neto.
According to the MPF, Bumlai’s loan was intended to pay off the PT’s campaign debts.
Milton Schahin’s defense alleged that “the conviction handed down in the present case expressly states that the facts are related to the contract signed by Petrobras with the Schahin Group for the operation of the Vitória 10,000 drillship and the loan made by Schahin to the Workers’ Party , having as an intermediary Mr. José Carlos Costa Marques Bumlai, object of criminal action n.5061578-51.2015.404.7000”, claims Schahin’s defense.
Justices João Otávio de Noronha, Reynaldo Soares da Fonseca, Ribeiro Dantas and Joel Ilan Paciornik voted in favor of the appeal – and, therefore, to annul the conviction. The four disagreed with the rapporteur, Minister Jesuíno Rissato, who voted against the appeal.
Noronha, who opened the divergence, stated that the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba was not competent to judge the case.
“Since the connection between the facts found in this criminal action and those found in criminal action 506 and 578 is clear, I recognize the incompetence of the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba to judge this criminal action. Being in the execution phase of the sentence imposed on the aggravating [Milton Schahin]I propose that the execution of the sentence be suspended with the determination of the immediate release of the appellant through the issuance of the competent license”, he said.
“I declare the nullity of the decision-making acts carried out by incompetent judges, and the competent court must decide on the possibility of ratifying them”, he added.
The decision was similar to what was decided in relation to former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who also had his convictions annulled in the cases judged by the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba, which was led by former judge Sergio Moro until he left the judiciary. to assume a ministry of the Bolsonaro government.
Source: CNN Brasil