Maluf will have to return US$28,3 million to São Paulo.
Jersey court rejects appeals filed by the former mayor, and the funds will be returned to the city government led by Fernando Haddad; in the lawsuit, the city argued that the money, which is in offshore accounts belonging to companies owned by the Maluf family, came from bribes paid in a fraud scheme to divert funds during the construction of Avenida Roberto Marinho.
Daniel Mello
Reporter from Agência Brasil
Sao Paulo - The Jersey Court of Appeal (British island) yesterday (11) denied two appeals filed by companies belonging to former mayor and federal deputy Paulo Maluf (PP-SP), according to a statement released by the São Paulo city hall. The companies' lawyers appealed against the decision of the Royal Court of Jersey, which ordered the return of US$ 28,3 million to the city of São Paulo. The amount (updated and with interest) refers to the amounts embezzled in a fraud scheme from 1997 to 1998.
According to the ruling, the money was sent abroad by Flávio Maluf, the parliamentarian's son, on his father's orders. The companies can, according to the city government, appeal to two higher instances of the justice system of the overseas territories of the United Kingdom and the British Crown.
In the lawsuit, the city government argued that the money, which is held in overseas accounts belonging to companies owned by the Maluf family, came from bribes paid in a fraud scheme to divert funds during the construction of Avenida Água Espraiada (now Avenida Jornalista Roberto Marinho).
In Brazil, Paulo Maluf, along with ten other defendants, is facing criminal charges in the Supreme Federal Court (STF) for money laundering related to the same case. The Public Prosecutor's Office says that the construction project was overpriced, with a final cost of R$ 796 million, and that a large portion of the money was sent abroad through money launderers.