TRF4 convicts Cunha's wife for currency evasion.

By André Luiz Richter, reporter for the Agency - The Eighth Panel of the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region, based in Porto Alegre, today (18) sentenced journalist Cláudia Cruz, wife of former federal deputy Eduardo Cunha, to two years and six months in prison for the crime of currency evasion. An appeal against the decision is possible, and the sentence may be converted to alternative measures.

The majority of the panel understood that Cláudia Cruz, by maintaining undeclared deposits abroad, benefited from part of the money received as a bribe by her husband in the contract between Petrobras and an oil company in Benin, Africa.

According to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF), Claudia used part of the money for personal expenses abroad. For the same facts, Cunha was sentenced by Judge Sergio Moro to 15 years and four months in prison and is incarcerated in a prison in the metropolitan region of Curitiba.

The panel's decision differed from Moro's understanding, who, in May of last year, acquitted Cunha's wife. According to the judge, the journalist had "merely accessory participation" and considered her claim that Cunha was responsible for managing the family's finances "quite plausible."

"It should be noted that, in fact, there is no evidence that she participated in Eduardo Cosentino da Cunha's corruption schemes. Therefore, the defendant Cláudia Cordeiro Cruz should have realized that the standard of living she and her family enjoyed was inconsistent with her husband's sources of income and public office. However, [this behavior] is not sufficient to convict her of money laundering," Moro said in the decision.

Following the decision, lawyer Pierpaolo Bottini, representing Cláudia Cruz, said that the sentence of imprisonment without prejudice was not unanimous and that he will appeal. According to Bottini, the TRF's decision also upheld the acquittal of Cunha's wife on the charge of money laundering.