FHC strips Lava Jato of its clothes and discredits Sergio Moro.

When dealing with former president FHC, Sergio Moro behaves in a very different way from the disrespectful, sarcastic, and aggressive beast with which he treats President Lula.

Furthermore, FHC dismantled, one by one, all the ridiculous accusations that the Public Prosecutor's Office, with the criminal complicity of Sergio Moro and the media, has been making against Lula all this time, accusing the former president not only of "stealing" the gifts he received while in office, but also of receiving "bribes" to keep them preserved. FHC said that he also receives money from companies to preserve documents and objects he received while he was president; and furthermore, that he also received a lot of money through the Rouanet Law for this purpose.

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No Lula's website

FHC dismantles Lava Jato's theory about Lula's presidential collection.

In testimony in Curitiba, the former president of the PSDB party explains how the maintenance of the presidential archives works and receives three apologies from Judge Sérgio Moro.

Published 09 / 02 / 2017

Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso testified this Thursday (9) before first instance judge Sérgio Moro in the criminal action that Lava Jato is bringing against former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former first lady Dona Marisa Letícia and the president of the Lula Institute, Paulo Okamoto. Fernando Henrique, listed as a defense witness, testified especially about the presidential collection, which Lava Jato calls Lula's "personal objects" and puts under scrutiny in the process it is bringing against the former PT president.

FHC (Fernando Henrique Cardoso) stated that the exchange of gifts between presidents and leaders of nations is formal and ends up generating a presidential collection. According to a federal law, whose regulations were established during the former president's administration, personal collections are considered to be of public interest in Brazil. Thus, the fact is that, according to FHC, the collection of each former president ends up becoming "a problem" for the former leader, since he comes to possess a collection of objects that are of public interest but generate personal storage demands. "A huge problem. Since the collection is of public interest, you (any former president) appeal to donors, because you are obliged to maintain the collection of objects, but you don't have the resources to maintain it," explained Fernando Henrique.

FHC (Fernando Henrique Cardoso) stated that he uses the Rouanet Law to maintain his collection, and that such material can even be sold if the former president wishes, after being offered to the National Treasury beforehand. Despite this legal option, Fernando Henrique said: "Of course, I haven't sold anything." Lula hasn't sold anything either.

In his testimony, the former president said that his collection is "enormous," with thousands of documents, many kept in refrigerated locations. He also stated that, due to his academic background, he is very concerned about the preservation of this material. Lula's collection, housed in more than a dozen containers, is currently seized by Operation Lava Jato and handled by people without experience in the preservation or cataloging of historical documents.

FHC clarified that the collection does not legally qualify as personal property. When asked if this is added to income tax, he explained that such material is not included in his asset declaration, and that the value of these objects is historical, not patrimonial. He also stated that companies, such as Odebrecht, contributed to his Institute, and there is nothing illegal about these contributions, contrary to what the accusations of the Lava Jato prosecutors, made exclusively against former President Lula, suggest. FHC confirmed that there was a meeting with businessmen when he was still president, and that Emílio Odebrecht participated, but that no donations were requested at that meeting; it was only to verify if there was room for the creation of an institute. In the lawsuit against the former Workers' Party president, prosecutors from the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office of Paraná accuse Lula of receiving undue advantages from the construction company OAS, since the contractor paid 21 reais per month for the storage of the presidential collection in warehouses at the Granero company.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso's statements confirm what the former president's defense team says: the presidential collection is not personal property, and its maintenance does not constitute an undue advantage, which is a legal obligation of former presidents.

Reverência

At the beginning of the session, Judge Sérgio Moro gave a “special good morning to former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.” Moro also thanked FHC twice for his testimony and apologized to the former president on three occasions, for the type of questions FHC had to answer and for the length of the testimony. Fernando Henrique Cardoso was addressed as “Your Excellency” and apologized for “talking too much.” Moro said the testimony was “very interesting.”

While still in court, FHC explained how he built his support base, the so-called "coalition presidentialism," forming a larger parliamentary base with allies than the one with which the former president was elected. He said he had no knowledge of either cartelization or the cases of embezzlement cited by Nestor Cerveró. "A president can't know everything," FHC stated. "A former president hears a lot of malicious gossip from one side against the other that he can't take literally."

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