Bumlai tells Moro that he is sorry.

247 - Imprisoned since November 2015 as part of Operation Passe Livre (a result of Lava Jato), cattle rancher José Carlos Bumlai considers himself the 'perfect fool of the PT', according to a post on Fausto Macedo's blog.

In closing arguments – a crucial part of the criminal case in which Bumlai is accused of corruption, money laundering and fraudulent management of a financial institution – presented to Judge Sérgio Moro on Friday (12), the defense says that he 'knows he made a serious mistake, which resulted in the accusation, is aware of his actions and regrets many of them'.

Bumlai is a key figure in the case of the R$12 million loan he took out from Banco Schahin in October 2004. According to the businessman himself, the money was intended for the Workers' Party (PT), which was experiencing cash flow difficulties at the time.

According to the Lava Jato investigations, in exchange for the loan, the Schahin Group was favored with a US$1,6 billion contract without bidding with Petrobras in 2009, to operate the Vitória 10.000 drillship.

Former President Lula, who is not accused in this case, allegedly gave his 'blessing' to the deal – a claim denied by his defense team.

"The evidence in the case file explains what actually happened: the PT needed money to, among other things, pay off debts from the Campinas mayoral campaign," says the defense.

"In turn, Banco Schahin, represented by then-president Sandro Tordin and its controllers Salim and Milton Schahin, had available funds and a strong interest in getting closer to the Federal Government and the Workers' Party to benefit from new 'business opportunities'... In this context, as Bumlai clarified, 'the loan was already fully approved' and 'only needed a sucker' 'to sign and be responsible for it'22. And the 'sucker' chosen was José Carlos Bumlai who, in addition to being known by everyone involved, was a creditworthy person23 and a friend of President Lula24. Here is the perfect sucker!"