Kotscho: Justice seems unwilling to clarify the PSDB's bribery scheme.
A journalist describes as "unbelievable" the justification given by the prosecutor responsible for the Alstom case at the Public Prosecutor's Office for not complying with a request from Swiss prosecutors; Rodrigo de Grandis pointed to an "administrative failure"; "This gives an idea of the interest of Brazilian judicial and police authorities in clarifying the path of the money that earned the French multinational approximately 1,5 billion reais," writes Ricardo Kotscho.
247 - Journalist Ricardo Kotscho points to the PSDB's (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) kickback scheme in São Paulo as a case that has dragged on for 15 years, full of "mystery and impunity." According to him, there are many questions to be answered.
Em your blog on R7Kotscho further describes as "unbelievable" the justification given by the Federal Prosecutor's Office for not having responded to requests from Swiss prosecutors regarding the Alstom case. The agency alleged "administrative failure."
Read below:
Tucano bribery scheme: 15 years of mystery and impunity
The author is Elio Gaspari in a short note published in his Sunday column in Folha, under the title "Alstom":
"Either the São Paulo PSDB party has a strategy capable of making the PT's leadership envious, as they intend to free their leaders from prison for the Mensalão scandal, or they are employing a suicidal tactic, throwing the bribery scandal denounced by Siemens into next year's election campaign. Based on the evidence, testimonies, and figures, this case far surpasses the Mensalão scandal. There, there is no control of the facts, what exists are dominant facts."
For those who don't understand what it's about, as is my case, it seems like a coded message. All I know is that it's talking about the denunciation of a corruption case involving cartels and bribes, involving two multinational companies and three PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) governments in the construction of the São Paulo subway and urban trains, a case that has been dragging on for more than 15 years.
The case began to be investigated in Switzerland, based on testimonies and evidence presented by the corruptors themselves about their "modus operandi," but in Brazil, it has not been possible to reach the corrupted individuals. Every now and then, the name of some small-time politician from the second or third tier of the PSDB party appears in the news, but the investigations carried out in Brazil mysteriously stall at a certain point, and impunity survives unchallenged.
Readers are having difficulty understanding what is happening, as can be seen from the questions asked in this message from Nicola Granato (Santos, SP) published in Folha last Saturday:
"In the Alstom and Siemens cases, was it only this small fry constantly mentioned in the reports who participated? Did these people have the power, alone, to decide the fate of so many millions of reais? When will the true beneficiaries of this scandal, cautiously called a cartel, begin to appear?"
I would also like to know the answers, but every day it becomes more difficult to understand what is happening. On the same day the reader's letter was published, the newspaper reported that "without support from Brazil, Switzerland shelved part of the Alstom case." Swiss authorities waited two years for Brazilian prosecutors to respond to the material they sent requesting that four suspects be questioned, but they received no response and gave up.
One would imagine that Brazil would be the most interested party in clarifying the case, since the public coffers of São Paulo were the biggest victims of the multinational scheme, but that is not what the Brazilian Federal Public Prosecutor's Office shows. The justification given for the lack of cooperation from the Brazilian authorities is unbelievable: the Public Prosecutor's Office in São Paulo attributed everything to an "administrative error." According to this version, the office of prosecutor Rodrigo de Grandis, responsible for the investigations into Alstom's actions in Brazil, filed the Swiss request in the wrong folder, and this was only discovered last Thursday. How charming!, as our friend Hebe Camargo would say.
This gives an idea of the interest of Brazilian judicial and police authorities in clarifying the path of the money that yielded the French multinational around 1,5 billion reais, more than its own executives had planned, and some hefty sums for those who helped its executives in this task.
On page 66 of the latest Veja magazine, in a report denouncing that "the corruption scheme of the multinational Alstom also affected the state-owned companies Eletronorte and Itaipu," that is, the federal government, of course, the magazine adds another piece, almost in passing, to the puzzle of the PSDB's great scam, under the title 1 billion: "A bank account described by the Federal Police as a 'money laundering' operation for businessmen and politicians was used by Alstom to pay bribes to members of the PSDB government in São Paulo, investigations indicate."
Which businesspeople, which politicians, which members of the government in São Paulo? The magazine doesn't say, and Brazilian authorities don't seem interested in knowing.
But taxpaying citizens are not satisfied. "The response from prosecutor Rodrigo de Grandis that there was an 'administrative failure' is unacceptable. The investigation was closed, public funds were harmed, and that's it? Who will punish this irresponsibility?", asks reader Fabiana Tambellini (São Paulo, SP) in today's Folha. Good question.
Anyone who has answers for these inquisitive readers can send them here to our "Balaio" (basket/commentary). It's free. There's no cost.