Cunha and Funaro come face to face during Fabio Cleto's testimony.
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ) and money launderer Lúcio Funaro came face to face this Thursday (26) in a hearing at the Federal Court to follow the testimony of former vice president of Caixa Econômica Federal Fábio Cleto; the three are defendants in Operation Sépsis, an offshoot of Lava Jato, which investigates a bribery scheme at CEF; Cleto revealed a payment of 1,5% to Cunha's group on the amount released in 2011 by Caixa for Porto Maravilha, in the port area of Rio de Janeiro - a R$ 3,5 billion project.
Brasilia 247 - Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ) and money launderer Lúcio Funaro came face to face this Thursday (26) in a hearing at the Federal Court in Brasília to follow the testimony of former vice president of Caixa Econômica Federal Fábio Cleto. The three are defendants in Operation Sépsis, an offshoot of Lava Jato, which investigates a bribery scheme involving financing from the FGTS Investment Fund (FI-FGTS), managed by CEF.
It was the first meeting between Cunha and Funaro since the contents of the money launderer's plea bargain were released. Funaro extended his hand to greet Cunha, but was ignored by the former parliamentarian. The two are expected to testify this Friday (26). Cleto's interrogation was also attended by former Minister of Tourism and former President of the Chamber Henrique Eduardo Alves, imprisoned in Rio Grande do Norte and also a defendant in the same case.
In testimony to federal judge Vallisney Souza Oliveira, Fábio Cleto, who is imprisoned in Campinas and has entered into a plea bargain agreement, confirmed that his nomination for the vice-presidency of Caixa Econômica Federal (a Brazilian state-owned bank) was made by Eduardo Cunha and endorsed by Henrique Eduardo Alves. Funaro also confirmed the information provided by Cleto. In his testimony, Cleto revealed a scheme to embezzle money from the bank and stated that Cunha kept the largest share of the bribes. Cleto was responsible for releasing funds from the fund to companies, and in exchange, the companies paid bribes to the group, led by Cunha.
"I had the ability to disrupt the company's operations within Caixa Econômica," Cleto stated. The executive worked at Caixa from April 2011 to April 2015. Initially, the payments were arranged with Funaro, but after a disagreement with the money launderer, the bribes were negotiated directly with Cunha.
Porto Maravilha
Cleto revealed a 1,5% payment to Cunha's group on the funds released in 2011 by Caixa for Porto Maravilha, in the port area of Rio de Janeiro - a project worth R$ 3,5 billion.
The former president of Caixa described a meeting, convened by Cunha, in a São Paulo hotel to explain to executives of construction companies involved in the project the status of the release of funds for Porto Maravilha. Cunha nodded his head in disagreement during Cleto's testimony.