Lavajato: The justice of Brazil accused against Argentina

RIO DE JANEIRO.- Differences between the justice of Argentina and the justice of

Brazil

hindered the investigations of the
Operation Lava Jato in both countries, according to the Attorney General of the Republic of Brazil, Rachel Dodge, in a report to the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

"Obstruction of international judicial cooperation," said prosecutor Dodge in a document sent last month to the judge in charge of Lava Jato in court, Edson Fachin, according to the newspaper Rio O Globo, who would have had access to the material reserved.

He was referring to the case of the sale of the Petrobras stake in the Argentine energy transport company Transener, in 2007, which had been acquired by the local group Electroingeniería after the payment of 54 million dollars US and, among other things, suspected bribes, the federal planning minister of the time

Cristina Kirchner

,

Julio de Vido

.

In his report, Attorney General Dodge recommended to Justice Fachin
close the investigation on two senators, Renan Calheiros and Jader Barbalho (both from the Brazilian Democratic Movement, MDB), because it had been impossible to summon the former advisor of De Vido, Roberto Dromi, exposing public works and services, under the government of Carlos Menem and the former vice president of Electroingeniería, Gerardo Ferreyra, who allegedly participated in the dark negotiations according to investigations conducted in Brazil.

According to the prosecutor, since May 2016, the orders of the Brazilian justice to the Argentine justice have been delayed or have given rise to evasive answers.

Dromi and Ferreyra had been involved in this case by two "repentants" who had signed agreements with the Brazilian Federal Public Prosecutor. According to the awarding statements of Néstor Cerveró, former director of the Petrobras International Zone, and lobbyist Fernando Falcão Soares, aka "Fernando Baiano", Electroingeniería paid juicy coimas (only US $ 300,000 was received) for the participation to be preserved. from Petrobras in Transener, which had been agreed not long ago that it would be sold to an American company.

On the Brazilian side, Calheiros and Barbalho have also been targeted as recipients of bribes, as have former Senator Silas Rondeau and former MP Aníbal Gomes (all members of the BMD).

Consulted by
THE NATION, the Attorney General of the Republic said that the report only sought to contextualize the recommendation of Mr. Dodge to dismiss the case against the remaining Senators Calheiros and Barbalho of the other evidence against the members of the Senate who have a privileged forum. The prosecutor indicated that investigations of other legislators (Rondeau and Gomes) were taking place in ordinary courts.

"No complaints have been made against the Argentine authorities, neither specifically nor generically," said the secretary of communications of the Attorney General's office.

The truth is that at that time, the Argentinean justice system had also tried to gain access to this agreement and the other award-winning agreements concluded by Lava Jato and involving former officials of our country.

However, since these pacts ensured that the repentant could not be prosecuted outside Brazil, the Brazilian authorities did not provide the data. It was not until last August that the Attorney General of the Argentine nation signed a collaboration agreement with the Attorney General of the Republic of Brazil to advance the causes of Lava Jato in both countries.