Second Panel of the STF Condemns Former Senator Valdir Raupp for Corruption and Money Laundering | Politics

The conviction was motivated by irregularities in an electoral donation of R $ 500 thousand for the Raupp campaign in 2010, investigated by Operation Lava Jato. The former senator denies any wrongdoing.

In 2017, when the Second Panel accepted the complaint and he became a defendant, Raupp affirmed that the contribution was duly declared before the Electoral Tribunal and cannot be considered evidence or proof of illegality (read more at the end of this article).

Until the last update of this report, the ministers had not yet defined the dosimetry of the sentence, that is, the duration of the sentence and the regime in which it must be served.

In the lawsuit, the PGR requested a sentence of 12 years and five months in prison for Raupp for corruption and seven years and seven months for money laundering. However, an eventual arrest should only be ordered after appeals have been heard.

The trial began in June with the vote of the rapporteur, Minister Edson Fachin. He voted to convict Raupp and an aide and to acquit another accused aide. The vote was accompanied by Minister Celso de Mello.

Minister Ricardo Lewandowski did not agree and voted for the acquittal of all the accused.

At the resumption of the trial on Tuesday, Minister Carmen Lúcia decided to follow the vote of the rapporteur, forming a majority for the conviction.

“I emphasize that there is a difference between this case and the regular electoral donations, because what we see, in the voting and the corroborating evidence, would be the mercy of the political influence of the then senator in a spurious system of paying bribes, which does not must be confused. with the performance of legitimate political actors in the State of Democratic Law, which are within the limits of the general norms in force ”, said the minister.

Minister Gilmar Mendes followed the vote of Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, in favor of the acquittal of the accused.

“The prosecution did not provide minimal evidence of this alleged concrete adjustment between Valdir Raupp and his collaborators,” he argued. “The proven absence of participation by Valdir Raupp in the provision of support deconstructs the thesis supported by the prosecution, since there is no relationship between the electoral donation of R $ 500,000 and the specific exercise of public parliamentary functions,” said the minister. .

The complaint was presented by the Attorney General’s Office under Operation Lava Jato and was accepted by the Second Panel in 2017. As a result, the defendants became defendants in the criminal action. A brother-in-law of the then senator and a former employee were reported for the same crimes.

At the time, Raupp argued that the campaign donation was legal.

“I still believe that the duly declared official campaign contribution cannot be considered as proof and / or proof of illegality. I also clarify that the contributions of the 2010 campaign, which are the subject of the case, were made directly to the Regional Directorate of PMDB State of Rondônia, and the accounts were approved by the Regional Electoral Tribunal (TRE-RO) ”, he stated in his moment.

According to the PGR, Raupp asked the former director of Petrobras, Paulo Roberto Costa, for help in obtaining electoral donations.

After being called in for this purpose, Costa allegedly asked lobbyist Fernando Soares, known as Fernando Baiano, for help, investigators report.

The money changer Alberto Yousseff, in turn, would have agreed with a Raupp advisor that the donation would be made by the construction company Queiroz Galvão, a contractor that had contracts with Petrobras.