Judge decides to grant Henry liberty

Bate Papo – Marcelo Leal, lawyer

The decision is a culmination of all work in this process, which has lasted for over a year and in which close to a hundred witnesses, many of them, including the prosecution In addition to the award-winning informants, even the 22 prosecution witnesses and informants confirmed the defense's allegations and blanked Hen Eduardo Alves, obviously the defense witnesses do. The incredible thing is to arrive at the end of the process and not to find a single evidence produced by the prosecution that confirms the original charges.

There was not a single item that could give anything that corroborated the prosecution's charges?
Absolutely none. The press followed closely. Instead of accusing, each witness confirmed the defense's case. In fact, many of these witnesses had already been heard in the investigation, during which Henrique Eduardo Alves was also acquitted.

Now that this phase of the investigations of accused, prosecution and defense witnesses is over, what are your expectations for the next steps regarding this process?
Ten days have been opened for the latest requirements of the parties. After the latter requirements are fulfilled, they open the deadlines for final allegations, first those of the prosecution, then those of the defense.

Do you consider then that the result will be the acquittal of the former deputy?
I can explain each of the charges a little better. I consider this important because the press used to refer to the case as a misappropriation of funds from the construction of the Arena das Dunas, but Henrique Alves has never been accused of diversion of resources from the Arena das Dunas

?
No. The press repeats this as a mantra, but it has not even been charged. The lawsuit involves, in fact, receiving bribes, bribery, while emphasizing would have favored some companies. One of the charges relates to the construction company OAS, responsible for the construction of the Arena das Dunas. Specifically with regard to this charge, all that the Crown has is the exchange of two messages. The first message, Henrique sends to Leo Pinheiro, who was the president of the OAS at the time, saying: "Boechat column says Arena das Dunas will be delayed.Do you have?" He does not ask if the money or the receipt of the OAS will be delayed. He asks if the Arena Dunes will be delayed. At the end of the day, in another for Leo Pinheiro, he said: "Monday I will be in Brasilia, I will go to the TCU." This was enough for the prosecution to say that Henry would have pressured the Court of Auditors to favor the OAS. But, do you see, if a politician is not supposed to fight for the construction and completion of the most important work of the state at the time, I do not know anymore what which is legitimate. Imagine the scandal that could have occurred if Arena das Dunas was ready, but it was not used at the 2014 World Cup because of the delay in construction. Then we list all the ministers of the TCU and all the advisers of the Court of State Accounts (TCE) of Rio Grande do Norte. The judge rejected many of them, but agreed to hear the rapporteurs, from here and from the TCU. They were categorical saying that they have never received any kind of pressure from Henrique.

And the other counts?
A second charge concerns OAS financial donations and, exceptionally, cases involving the construction company Odebrecht. We are talking about official donations, internally, counted, with notes issued, with bills given and approved by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). In the case of the construction company Carioca, Eduardo Cunha asks the donation to Henrique. The construction company donated R $ 300,000 in the first round and R $ 100,000 in the second round of the 2014 elections. We listen to the president of Carioca, Ricardo Pernambuco Júnior. He said that he had been with Henrique once but said that the former minister had never offered or promised any undue advantage to Carioca. He said that he has never committed an act that would benefit the Carioca construction company.

What about other charges?
The third charge concerns the construction company Andrade Gutierrez. According to the indictment, Andrade Gutierrez reportedly made a deposit of R $ 1 million and $ 250,000 for the MDB of Rio Grande do Norte. We showed that, on this money, only $ 100,000 went to Henry's election campaign. More than that, we heard Otávio Marques, president of Andrade Gutierrez, who also confirmed that Henrique has never practiced, committed or promised an act that would benefit the construction company. . The case of Odebrecht implies that it is a gift in two money, resources not accounted for in the campaign. We heard the president of Odebrecht Ambiental, who is Fernando Aires Reis. He said that his daughter studied in the same school and in the same clbad as that of Eduardo Cunha. Because of this, he was close to Eduardo Cunha, that he was trying to say that he wanted to be introduced to Henrique, because he wanted to donate to the politicians who were encouraging him. 39 private initiative. And he was very clear in saying that Henry had never promised him to privatize Caern. Even because it would be impossible, since water and sewer services are allocated to the municipality and not to the state government. He baderted that this gift was then legitimate, institutional and that he was not counted because he himself asked that this be not the case. From where he was by the way of the box two. So apart from the fact that it was the second box … So we do not exonerate Henry's responsibility, but there is no act of corruption. And finally, the latest accusation concerns football clubs. It's the most absurd of all.

Why?
The accusation is that Henrique Alves would have been wanted by the presidents of America and the ABC and arranged with the president of the OAS to improve the club's contract. football, this to the detriment of the OAS, inclusively. I wanted to understand what is the act of corruption of a politician who fights for the football clubs of his state. You can not understand where there would be an act of corruption. We listened to the club presidents. The whole negotiation has been clarified. Had a meeting at Fiern. Henry took the phone in front of everyone and called Leo Pinheiro. I asked, "Did you hear Henry ask anything from Leo Pinheiro?" One of the presidents said, "Doctor, Henry has not asked for a football ticket."

Some lawyers have already risked criminalizing political activity. Do you see that risk?
To the extent that a crime is attributed to those who have simply acted politically, there is a criminalization of political activity. To say that someone who fought for the construction of the Dune Arena did not delay, practice a crime, it is a criminalization of politics, yes.