JN dedicates 17 minutes to PMDB's schemes and mentions bribes to Temer.

247 - On the eve of the vote on the second impeachment complaint against Michel Temer in the Chamber of Deputies, Jornal Nacional dedicated no less than 17 minutes to videos in which Lúcio Funaro reveals the purchase of the 2016 coup and also explains how bribes were passed on to Eduardo Cunha, Henrique Eduardo Alves, Geddel Vieira Lima, and Michel Temer himself.

Check out video Read the transcript of the news report below:

New excerpts from Lúcio Funaro's testimony have been released.

Money launderer Lúcio Funaro, arrested in the Lava Jato operation, is identified as the PMDB's financial operator. In the videos, he mentioned the names of party parliamentarians and President Michel Temer in the corruption scheme.

 TV Globo obtained access to video recordings of money launderer Lúcio Funaro, arrested in the Lava Jato operation and identified as the PMDB's financial operator. He mentioned the names of party parliamentarians and President Michel Temer in the corruption scheme.

There are several cases of corruption, reported over more than 13 hours of audio and video recorded testimonies. Until this Saturday (14), only transcribed testimonies had been made public. Now, in the videos, the money launderer Lúcio Funaro, identified as the PMDB's financial operator, recounts more details of episodes that were used to support the accusation made against the president. Michel Temer for the crimes of obstruction of justice and criminal organization.

One of them was buying the silence of the money launderer. Funaro recounts how the businessman Joesley Baptist He constantly monitored his mood. At this point, Funaro reads the testimony he had previously given: “Joesley and his lawyer, Francisco de Assis, proposed to the deponent to create an umbrella contract in order to give the appearance of legality to the deals already made between the deponent and Joesley and to the credit balance that the deponent had with the JBS group companies, that on the other hand Joesley also felt secure in the sense that the deponent would not take any action against his interests and those of his group, as I have already said, that the deponent knew that Joesley monitored the deponent's willingness to comply with the pact of silence and loyalty through contacts with the deponent's wife, who is a friend of Joesley's wife and her family, who were also friends of the deponent's wife, that this monitoring of the deponent's mood was also done by Francisco de Assis with the deponent's sister when she went to the JBS headquarters to receive the monthly payments.”

Funaro said he sent a message to Joesley Batista threatening retaliation if payments were interrupted, including threatening to denounce Michel Temer: "That he was informed by his sister that his lawyer Roberta confirmed that she took another message to Francisco, inside a Bic pen, in order to reassure Joesley and Francisco regarding the commitment made between the deponent and Joesley; that if the payments were suspended, the deponent would expose Joesley, that is, he would execute the credit titles he had against him and certainly the deponent's desire to denounce Joesley would also increase significantly; that, however, the option of denouncing would incriminate not only Joesley but also a series of people, among them Geddel Vieira Lima, Eduardo Cunha, Henrique Eduardo Alves, Gabriel Chalita, Henrique Constantino, Michel Temer, in a tangential way, among others who did business with the deponent." 

At another point, the prosecutor asks Funaro what he meant by "exposing Joesley and incriminating a series of people," and Funaro again mentions Michel Temer, among others: 

“I could take two approaches. So, I had two strategies to adopt: either, a first strategy would be to prosecute him in court and see if he would back down, saying: 'no, I'll go back to normal, we'll remain friends'. Or, I would go ahead and prosecute him in court, receive my money, and then make a plea bargain. Or, the third option would be to make the plea bargain and the prosecution all at once,” Funaro recounts.

Attorney: Okay, so you mentioned these three options, but you said that the option of cooperating with the investigation would have a different effect...
Funaro: Because I could never make a plea bargain restricted only to the Batista family, their nephews, all those people. 

I would have to give a deposition that, whichever prosecutor I sat down with, the first thing they would say to me is: 'Okay, you've finished talking about the Batista family, now let's move on to the next chapter.' That would involve Geddel, Eduardo Cunha, Henrique Eduardo Alves, and several other people I didn't want to involve, especially since they were my friends and I had a good relationship with them up until that point, and they weren't guilty of the situation. If anyone was guilty of stopping the payments, it was Joesley, because he had the responsibility to make the payment, because he received and effectively owed me the money. 

Attorney: So, I'd like you to repeat only the people you mentioned, those who could be in your written statement. To see if you confirm the people you mentioned.
Funaro: Geddel, Henrique Eduardo AlvesEduardo Cunha. Let me see who else. Michel Temer. It would have a cascading effect, wouldn't it? Because I'd have to say everything like I'm saying it now. 

Funaro reports that the former minister Geddel Vieira Lima He also called his wife to find out if he intended to make a plea bargain. Funaro, who was in prison and already negotiating a plea bargain, instructed his wife to continue answering Geddel's calls.

Funaro: She was afraid of being monitored, or that he was being monitored, that this could constitute obstruction of justice, and she wanted to, she said: "ah, I think I'm going to stop seeing him." And then I said: "don't stop seeing him, because otherwise he'll think, for sure, that I'm making a plea bargain."
AttorneyBut she wanted to stop answering the phone calls...
Funaro: And I instructed her not to stop, to continue attending to the matter normally, that this wouldn't constitute obstruction of justice because they didn't have any kind of subject, no conversation that could implicate her in that kind of matter, but, to me, it was as if he wanted to know, here, what are you doing, I don't know what, because I had an understanding, I had the broad context, she had the local context, you understand?

After Geddel left the government, Joesley Batista went to the Jaburu Palace in March of this year. In the conversation, Joesley told Temer that he had settled his outstanding issues with Eduardo Cunha, thus removing him from the equation. According to the Attorney General's Office, at that moment, Joesley also informed him about the payments to Lucio Funaro. Joesley said that he was on good terms with Cunha and heard President Temer say, "You have to maintain this, you know."

The money launderer recounted that he participated in several money delivery operations for politicians such as Henrique Eduardo Alves, who was a minister under Temer, and said that he also knew that money reached Michel Temer through an operator. Eduardo CunhaAltair Alves Silva.  
“In Henrique’s case, I had no problem receiving his employees in my office. Just as I’m sure that a percentage of the money that was passed on, which Eduardo Cunha spearheaded in all these schemes he had, also went to Michel Temer. And I never actually handed it over, but Altair must have handed it over a few times,” says Funaro.

In this testimony, the prosecutor insists on seeking more details.
Attorney: You mentioned that Michel Temer also received bribes because... 
FunaroBecause Altair would sometimes comment on what was happening. 
AttorneyWhat was he saying? 
Funaro: Oh, I had to deliver some money to Michel. Michel's office is behind my office, you understand?

Funaro also provides more details about the corruption scheme set up at Caixa Econômica Federal. He mentions the division of funds made with former minister Geddel Vieira Lima and former congressman Eduardo Cunha.

Prosecutor: You paid Cunha's share in full, but how did Geddel's share come about? 
Funaro"It was 60%, 65% for Geddel, depending on the operation, and the rest Cunha and I would mediate in the middle, or I would give Cunha an extra 5% and the rest would stay with me, depending on the operation and his cash needs."

Money launderer Lúcio Funaro also gave details of how former congressman Eduardo Cunha acted – at the request of Michel Temer – to benefit companies in the port sector. A provisional measure created new rules for the sector. Today there is an ongoing investigation into this matter at the Supreme Federal Court.

“This provisional measure was created for the reform of the port sector, and it would cause great harm to the Libra Group, which is an ally of Cunha and, consequently, of Michel Temer because it is one of the donors, one of the major donors to Michel Temer's campaigns. And Eduardo told me that at the time Michel asked him: 'Look, you have to do this, you have to do this, take care of this,' so that things wouldn't get out of control,” says Funaro.

According to Funaro's account, Eduardo Cunha managed to benefit the Libra Group: "And what happened, according to the definition of this Provisional Measure, was that the Libra Group would no longer be able to renew its port concessions because it had several tax debts registered as outstanding debt. And what did Eduardo Cunha do? He included a clause in this Provisional Measure that companies with registered outstanding debt could renew their contracts in the port sector as long as they filed for arbitration to dispute this tax debt."

Lúcio Funaro said the scheme involved bribing members of Congress to pass laws that would benefit companies. He explained the actions of former congressman Eduardo Cunha and also how bribes were paid to the Progressive Party, involving Caixa Econômica Federal (a Brazilian bank).

In the distribution of government positions to political parties allied with President Michel Temer, the
The Progressive Party (PP) nominated and managed to appoint Gilberto Occhi as president of Caixa Econômica Federal (a Brazilian bank). A new position. But the money launderer Lúcio Funaro testified in his plea bargain that, when Occhi was vice-president of the government area – still during Dilma Rousseff's administration – he was already diverting funds from financing to the PP. He said he was informed by a businessman that Occhi even had a quota for bribe payments to meet.

Funaro: I even knew that Gilberto Occhi had a goal of producing a certain amount of money per month to be distributed among the PP members. I don't know which members, but he had that goal.
PromotorHow much was it?
Funaro: I don't know the exact amount either, but he had a goal.
Funaro: Any funds from Caixa Econômica Federal (a Brazilian bank) related to BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank), FNDO (Fund for the Development of the Northeast), FCO (Constitutional Financing Fund of the Midwest), all funds coming from the government, had to go through his directorate. Everything had to go through his vice-presidency. And he had a target to meet there, the exact amount of which I don't know, but that's what people demanded of him.
Prosecutor: Target of illicit funds?
Funaro: As a bribe.

Funaro gave more details about the scheme to divert money from Caixa Econômica Federal (a Brazilian bank). He spoke of his partnership with the former Speaker of the House, Eduardo Cunha. With the money he obtained in bribes through the release of funds from the FI (Fund for Investment) and FGTS (Workers' Severance Indemnity Fund), the money launderer said he even set up a kind of current account with Cunha.

Development: So you'd say you have an inside account with Cunha? Is that correct to say?
Funaro: I have a checking account with him... It's... Unofficial, since 2003.

According to Funaro, Cunha's practice of buying money from parliamentarians began around that time, in 2003, when he was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies. The scheme strengthened from 2009 onwards, when the congressman had already held prominent positions in the Chamber and within the PMDB party. Funaro explained to the prosecutors how the party's leaders operated to obtain illicit funds in the negotiation of provisional measures sent to Congress.

Attorney: Was it common for the PMDB party to negotiate, within the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, the payment of bribes in exchange for approvals of any legislative measure?
Funaro: It was a fact that occurred.  
Attorney: Okay. Who in the Chamber was negotiating that operational part? 
Funaro: Normally, the person who had the power and most influence within the Chamber for this type of negotiation was Congressman Eduardo Cunha.  
Attorney: In the Senate, who had that power? 
Funaro: The person who acted as his liaison in the Senate was the senator. Romero Juca.

In several passages, Lúcio Funaro cited how Joesley Batista's company, JBS, released money to Cunha's group. He said that during the 2014 election campaign, the company transferred approximately R$30 million that was distributed by Eduardo Cunha to elect deputies who would help him win the election for president of the Chamber of Deputies. And, at another point, he recounted that Cunha and Joesley managed to appoint then-deputy Antonio Andrade, from the PMDB of Minas Gerais, to the Ministry of Agriculture, so that he could fulfill Joesley's demands.

It was during Dilma's government. According to Funaro, the group appointed the minister and two other officials to the ministry. In exchange, according to Funaro, the scheme benefited Joesley's companies with at least two measures: the prohibition of the sale of beef by-products by small slaughterhouses and of a parasite medication, ivermectin.

Prosecutor: What was the minister's quid pro quo, what did he request as a bribe to do this?
Funaro: He received R$ 3 million in the ivermectin case and R$ 1,5 million in the spoils of arms case.

The defense team for former congressman Eduardo Cunha released a statement in which he vehemently denies the content of the plea bargain and challenges money launderer Lúcio Funaro to prove the accusations.

Senator Romero Jucá, from the PMDB party, stated that the whistleblower's word must be viewed with serious reservations, because it is legally meaningless.

The PMDB party stated that accusations are being made without any evidence and that it believes the justice system will recognize them as ineffective.

J&F said in a statement that it was not always possible to know exactly how Lúcio Funaro operated with politicians. However, it considers the group's collaboration to have been complete and detailed, without omissions. It also stated that its collaborators remain available to the justice system to provide clarifications.

Gilberto Occhi vehemently denied what Lúcio Funaro said. He stated that he never asked anything of anyone and that his career has always been guided by respect for ethics and the law.

Caixa Econômica Federal has stated that it is in constant contact with the authorities, providing full cooperation with the investigations.

We received no response from the Progressive Party, nor from the former Minister of Agriculture, Antônio Andrade.

The Libra Group declared that it vehemently repudiates Funaro's insinuations. It stated that the measure benefited the entire sector and that Funaro mentions the group's name without a single piece of evidence or indication.

Gabriel Chalita said he left the PMDB party two years ago and never had any relationship with Lúcio Funaro. He also said that the resources for his campaign were the responsibility of the party.

Henrique Constantino said he continues to cooperate with the authorities to fully clarify the facts.

Former ministers Geddel Vieira Lima and Henrique Eduardo Alves declined to comment.

We were unable to locate the operator Altair Alves.