Brazil: justice dismisses another misconduct suit against former Rio Governor Cabral

Judge Maria Paula Gouvêa Galhardo of the 4th Court of the Public Treasury of Rio de Janeiro dismissed an action of improbity against former governor Sérgio Cabral, accused of favoring a construction company by receiving R$1 million (US$190,000) in bribes.

Based on the denunciation of Ricardo Pernambuco, Ricardo Pernambuco Júnior, and Tania Maria Silva Fontenelle, respectively controller, director, and employee of Carioca Engenharia, the Public Ministry said the scheme involved the purchase of overpriced cattle from the company Agrobilara, of the former president of the Legislative Assembly of Rio Jorge Picciani, who died in 2021.

Carioca Engenharia acquired the animals for above market price to generate cash and pay the millionaire bribe; in exchange, it would be favored by Cabral.

However, according to the judge, the evidence was allegations and, therefore, insufficient to support the former governor’s conviction, as provided in the Law of Criminal Organizations (Law 12.850/2013), which requires other evidence for a possible conviction.

In addition, according to the magistrate, the money involved in the case was private, not public (although the favoring of the construction company occurred in the government).

Thus, it was understood that there was no administrative improbity.

In a statement, Cabral’s lawyers said that “once again justice has been done, and it seems that this is only the second of several lawsuits that will be dismissed because all of them lack any element of proof and are based on mere allegations, some of which have even been annulled by the courts.”

In February, the 3rd Court of the Public Treasury of Rio de Janeiro dismissed another accusation of administrative improbity against Sérgio Cabral, which involved the integration works of Line 4 with Line 1 of the Rio de Janeiro subway system.

The Court held that completing the work did not require a new bidding process but could be done through a contractual amendment, a measure adopted by Cabral.

According to that ruling, there was no overbilling in the additive.

SENTENCED TO MORE THAN 400 YEARS IN PRISON

Sérgio Cabral is accused of leading a corruption scheme in the government of Rio de Janeiro.

He spent six years in prison and was released in 2022 by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) order.

Cabral was sentenced to 400 years in prison for 23 criminal actions.

Recently, the Justice of Rio de Janeiro revoked the last prison order against the former governor and replaced his imprisonment with preventive measures, such as using an electronic anklet, seizure of his passport, and monthly appearances before the courts.

The politician remained imprisoned for six years and was the last convicted in Operation Lava Jato (Car Wash), still serving time in a closed regime.

He was convicted of 23 criminal actions, accumulating over 400 years in prison.

The main accusation is of having headed a gang responsible for defrauding hundreds of public tenders in Rio de Janeiro.

With information from Revista Oeste