The testimony of Adriano Claudio Pires Ribeiro, who worked as an attorney for OAS Empreendimentos, from March 2007 to December 2013, summed up the finance operation structured for the construction company to assume the completion of some of Bancoop’s projects, showing that the decision was rational - and not political-, as a result of the growth plan that foresaw entering São Paulo, the country’s largest business hub.
The legal feasibility analysis for taking over Bancoop’s ventures was made by two renowned law firms, backing the operation, which proved to be profitable, contradicting the Federal Attorney’s Office line of accusation in the suit of the so-called Guaruja “triplex”. Ribeiro was one of 6 witnesses heard today (02/13) at the 13th Federal Criminal Court of Curitiba.
His testimony corroborated the information given by lawyer Pedro Dallari about the fact that Marisa Leticia, who recently passed away, did not make the option for OAS when the suit was filed by the State Attorney’s Office. This is one of the aspects considered important by the Federal Attorney’s Office prosecution. Ribeiro refuted this thesis. He reported that OAS had no interference in these cases, that the decision was to wait, because the construction company had already, necessarily, by commercial demand, obtained 90% of the other optionee’s acceptance, guaranteeing the financial health of the enterprise. The legal relationship of these cooperatives was with Bancoop and they even had the right to choose to receive back the amount invested.
This testimony adds to the others already taken, showing that the Federal Attorney’s Office accusation that Marisa had purchased a membership interest from Bancoop in 2005, already knowing that OAS would take over the Mar Cantabrico (now known as Solaris) venture in 2009, and give her a unit different from the one related to her membership interest and the contributions she made is a fantasy.
Genésio da Silva Paraíso, an engineer who has been with OAS Empreendimentos since 2010, also gave testimony. He handled the contracts and payments made to Talento, a company that in 2014, more than three years after Lula left the presidency, remodeled unit 164-A of the Solaris Building. Paraiso said the contract followed standard procedure, with clear bank transfers. He stated that unit 164-A was listed as a stock of OAS Empreendimento and that the remodeling and improvements were made when Lula emerged as a potential client for the company. He also said that he had never heard of a general bribery cash intended to make payments to the former president.
Today’s hearing also heard former Petrobras’ CEO José Sergio Gabrielli (2005 to 2012), and the former governor of Bahia, Minister of Labor and Employment and Institutional Relations of the Lula administration and current Secretary of Economic Development, Jaques Wagner, who were called by us, as witnesses in Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Marisa’s defense.
Like former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (02/09), Gabrielli and Wagner, in their testimonies, showed that the expansion of the parliamentary allied base in the Lula administration followed exactly the same parameters of other governments. According to Jaques Wagner, parliamentarians tend to be under an “umbrella of popularity”, so the adhesion to the Lula administration. He cited his own example, of when he was elected governor of Bahia, when several parliamentarians, who until then had been linked to the opposition, adhered to his government.
Former Petrobras CEO Gabrielli said that the company had an exponential growth during the Lula administration and that Operation Car Wash compromised the company operation and financial health. He affirmed that the company, after the sale of shares in 2000, assessed its control mechanisms, having a Board of Directors, internal and external audits, ombudsman and internal security. He said that the ombudsman received 17,000 complaints during his term, and that no corruption scheme was detected there, as in the various audit reports, since the corruptors operated in the margin of security practices, considering that they were technical professionals, had knowledge of the procedures, and until then had an unblemished reputation.
Gabrielli justified the replacement of former Executive Officer Nestor Cerveró by Jorge Zelada as a result of a strategic decision to review the international operation of Petrobras, taken in the scope of the Board of Directors.