Six years of chess for Valério. Before the Mensalão scandal.
The Mensalão operator was accused of providing false information to the Central Bank; his partner Cristiano Paz was also convicted.
According to information from the G1 portal - Marcos Valério and businessman Cristiano Paz were sentenced to prison by the Federal Court of First Instance in Minas Gerais, for having given false information to the Central Bank. The conviction, announced this Thursday (9), was determined on August 31.
According to the sentence, in 1999, the defendants made false statements about the operations and financial situation of the SMP&B agency, of which they were partners, at Banco Rural. The two altered the advertising agency's capital from R$ 150 to R$ 4,5 million. This allowed them to justify irregular deposits into the account and avoid raising suspicion from the Central Bank's auditing body.
In the Commercial Registry of Minas Gerais, the share capital of SMP&B was changed from R$ 150 to R$ 600.
According to the courts, if the Central Bank had not altered the information, the scheme of currency evasion, tax evasion, and money laundering, carried out by companies linked to Marcos Valério, could have been discovered sooner. In 2005, Marcos Valério became known for suspected involvement in the "mensalão" scheme.
Federal Judge Leonardo Augusto de Almeida Aguiar, assisting the 4th Federal Criminal Court, argued that, based on the evidence presented, the defendants acted with awareness that their conduct was illegal. According to the court, Cristiano Paz was sentenced to approximately five years in prison and 210 days of fines, and Marcos Valério to six years in prison and 280 days of fines.
Lawyer Marcelo Leonardo, responsible for Marcos Valério's defense, denied the accusation against the defendant and informed that he has appealed the decision to the Federal Regional Court (TRF) in Brasília. Cristiano Paz's defense, handled by lawyer Castellar Guimarães, also reported that they filed an appeal against the sentence with the TRF on August 2nd. According to Guimarães, the sentence imposed by the court is incorrect, as the evidence suggests the sentence should be closer to the minimum, since both defendants are first-time offenders with good records. Therefore, the lawyer argued that the decision should be overturned.
The court informed that, due to the lack of necessary requirements for ordering pretrial detention, the defendants may appeal while remaining free.
monthly allowance
Marcos Valério is also a defendant in the case investigating an alleged scheme to buy political support from parliamentarians, known as “mensalão”, which became public in 2005. The complaint was accepted by the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in 2005. His defense and that of 37 other defendants, including members of the Legislature and public servants, presented their final arguments to the STF this Thursday (8).
After the case's rapporteur, Minister Joaquim Barbosa, prepares his opinion, the case will be included on the docket for judgment. A date for the hearing has not yet been set.