Lula Institute Case: Defense Claims ‘Document Manipulation’

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The defense counsel for ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva presented new allegations on Wednesday, February 26th, in addition to its closing arguments in the case in which the leftist is charged with receiving R$12 (US$3) million in Odebrecht kickbacks, in connection with the purchase of a plot of land in São Paulo to house the Lula Institute’s headquarters, and an apartment next to his home in the ABC region just outside São Paulo.

In the ex-president’s last procedural act before the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba hands down its decision, the attorneys presented arguments denouncing entrepreneur Marcelo Odebrecht and alleging manipulation of documents.

The deadline for Lula’s closing arguments in the Institute lawsuit was reopened by a decision of Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Edson Fachin after the former Petrobras CEO Aldemir Bendine’s conviction was overturned in August. The ruling was accepted by Judge Luiz Antônio Bonat, who ordered new deadlines for the defendants to file closing arguments: first, the whistleblowing defendants; then the other defendants.

In a note, Lula’s attorneys Cristiano Zanin and Valeska Martins stated that in addition to the closing arguments presented on Wednesday, they reiterated the points raised in the closing arguments presented in October 2018, such as the suspected partiality of former Judge Sérgio Moro and the prosecutors of Lava Jato and the theory of curtailment of the defense.

In addition, Lula’s defense attorneys claim that new arguments are presented, including points related to the deposition of entrepreneur Marcelo Odebrecht to the Federal Court in Brasília, to the Lava Jato Foundation, to the alleged manipulation of documents and to the difficulty of exercising the right of defense in view of files delivered by Petrobras.

When dealing with Marcelo Odebrecht’s deposition, for instance, given to the Federal court in Brasília on October 14th, 2019, the defense states that the contractor “acknowledged that he never spoke to Lula about any illicit act and that there are many contradictions in the whistleblowers’ depositions in relation to the ex-president”.

The leftist’s attorneys also argued alleged manipulation of a copy of the MyWebDay system, which recorded the payment of kickbacks to politicians in Lava Jato, claiming it contains no reference to Lula. The defense further claims that the copy of the Odebrecht system was not “obtained and safeguarded by the authorities, but rather handed over by the contractor,” “with a clear breach of chain of custody – a set of records concerning the sources of the evidence”.

According to the note, Zanin and Valeska submitted 16 final petitions to the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba, among them the removal of the report related to the MyWebDay system. Furthermore, they asked for the suspension of the criminal proceedings due to different factors: until the UN Human Rights Committee’s decision and until the judgment of the lawsuit related to accessing the Odebrecht Leniency Agreement, among others.

The defense further requests a declaration of nullity in the case and calls for Lula’s acquittal, “for lack of evidence of the alleged facts,” “for lack of evidence to support the conduct of the alleged facts,” or “for insufficient evidence to convict”.