Former Engevix executive tried to influence witnesses, prosecutor says
José Antunes Sobrinho, former executive at Engevix
Federal Prosecutor Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima, from Operation Car Wash, reported Monday (Sep. 21) that José Antunes Sobrinho, former executive at Engevix, attempted to reach witnesses in a bid to “change the truth about the facts.” Antunes was arrested under the operation's 19th phase. The new stage of investigations, the prosecutor says, consists of “remnants from previous operations,” which proved insufficient.
Entitled Nessun Dorma, Italian for “let no one sleep”, the 19th stage was launched in the morning by the Federal Police in the cities of Florianópolis, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro.
During this stage, the Federal Police and the Public Prosecution Office probe into a $35 million contract between Engevix and Aratec—the latter linked to former Eletronuclear CEO Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva, arrested in Curitiba. No estimates were made as to how much was paid in kickbacks.
“The amount embezzled will be brought under scrutiny. Only afterwards will we be able to ascertain how much has been siphoned off,” the prosecutor said, while mentioning bribes identified in financial transactions dated January this year.
During his testimony to the Federal Police, Pinheiro da Silva said that the payments received by Aratec through Eletronuclear were made before the deal with the consortium for Angra 3 was signed. He declared that the amounts come from translation services provided by his daughter, and that, after ing the state-controlled company, he handed over the reins of the firm to her.
Eletronuclear and Petrobras
Prosecutor Santos Lima said that the cases involving Eletronuclear and Petrobras are connected. The move aims to ascertain whether a scheme whereby political was bought started in the Office of the Chief of Staff under former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The cases involving Eletronuclear and the construction of the Angra 3 nuclear plant are related to the corruption probes at Petrobras “because in them the same criminal organization is found, with people linked to political parties,” the prosecutor said during an interview with the press.
The prosecutor went on to say that there is no “direct direct connection proven” between the present stage of Operation Car Wash and former Chief of Staff José Dirceu, currently imprisoned in Curitiba, but added that “there's no doubt about [the involvement of] the Office of the Chief of Staff during Lula's istration.”
“Our investigations encom Eletronuclear and Angra 3. There's no direct connection with Petrobras, but rather with the exchange of political for money. We've found bank statements that show [amounts transferred to those involved in the case]. It happened up to 2015, so it proves that, despite the arrests, they kept the scheme uninterrupted; they merely moved to another state-run firm,” the prosecutor said.
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: Former Engevix executive tried to influence witnesses, prosecutor says
