In a surprise move, the Attorney General (PGR) has passed part of the $2
bn hidden debt case to the Audit Court (TA), and it appears penalties would be
only financial, with jail unlikely.
In a statement issued
today, the PRG (Procuradoria-Geral da Republica) said it had submitted to the
TA (Tribunal Administrativo) "a complaint regarding the financial
accountability of public managers and public companies" with respect to
violations of law with respect to government guarantees, contracting of
external finance, and signing contracts without authorization. The statement is
on http://bit.ly/2BAIMAc
No names are given, but
this suggests that the charges could be limited to the three companies -
Ematum, MAM, and ProIndicus - and to three people - the head of the three
companies Antonio Carlos do Rosario and the two people who signed the
guarantees, Manuel Chang (then Finance Minister) and Isaltina Lucas (then
treasury director and now Deputy Finance Minister).
The statement continues
that "investigations continue in terms of identifying possible criminal
infractions and those responsible", but the PRG complains about the
failure of some foreign countries to provide information.
(The PRG has still not
published the full Kroll audit report, which we have made available on http://bit.ly/Kroll-Moz-full)
Comment: It does look like a slap on the wrist for a few scapegoats. The PGR is only moving on "financial infractions" and blames lack of cooperation of unnamed foreign governments and "obscurities, deficiencies, and contradictions" in the law for a failure to bring criminal charges, although investigations continue.
Comment: It does look like a slap on the wrist for a few scapegoats. The PGR is only moving on "financial infractions" and blames lack of cooperation of unnamed foreign governments and "obscurities, deficiencies, and contradictions" in the law for a failure to bring criminal charges, although investigations continue.







