Brazilian Federal Police demand original Odebrecht note within 24 hours.
A manuscript by Marcelo Odebrecht, intended for delivery to his lawyers, was intercepted on June 22nd by prison officers at the Federal Police Regional Superintendence in Paraná. The document contained the phrase "destroy drilling rig emails." Investigators believe the request refers to a 2011 email exchanged with other employees of the construction company, concerning the application of a US$25 per day surcharge in a contract for the chartering and operation of drilling rigs. According to the Federal Police, the message proves that the executive was aware of the practice. The document involves the company Sete Brasil, created to produce drilling rigs for the pre-salt oil fields.
247 - Federal Police delegate Renata da Silva Rodrigues gave Marcelo Odebrecht's defense team 24 hours to present the original note he wrote. The construction company president has been in jail since June 19th as part of the Erga Omnes phase of Operation Lava Jato.
On June 22nd, the Federal Police intercepted a handwritten note from Marcelo that was intended for delivery to his lawyers. The document contained the phrase 'destroy email probes'.
"The defense attorneys for Marcelo Bahia Odebrecht are hereby notified, by the quickest means possible, requesting that they present to the undersigned police authority, within 24 hours, the original note written by the prisoner Marcelo, the content of which was intercepted on June 22, 2015, by prison officers at the Custody of this Regional Superintendence of the Federal Police in Paraná, where the prisoner is being held," the delegate ordered.
The email referred to by Marcelo Odebrecht was used as evidence by the Federal Police to arrest the businessman, who allegedly indicated in the message, dated 2011, according to investigators, that he was aware of the practice of overpricing at the company. The conversation discusses with other employees of the construction company the imposition of an overpricing of US$ 25 per day in a contract for the chartering and operation of drilling rigs. The document also involves Sete Brasil, a company created to produce drilling rigs for the pre-salt layer.
The discovery of the note was reported to the Federal Court by delegate Eduardo Mauat da Silva, a member of the Lava Jato task force. Odebrecht's lawyers Dora Cavalcanti, Rodrigo Sanches Rios, and Augusto de Arruda Botelho sent a petition to Judge Sérgio Moro stating, regarding the note, that "the annotations did not contain the slightest command to destroy evidence, and that – clearly – the word 'destroy' was used in the sense of disproving, refuting, and invalidating the erroneous interpretation that was made about the content of the email."
In a statement released to the press, the company also affirms that, in the email addressed to Odebrecht, the word "overpricing" has nothing to do with overbilling or any irregularity. It only represents the contractual remuneration that the company proposed to Sete Brasil.