Court Increases Former Minister Dirceu's Sentence and Acquits Ex-Treasurer of the Workers' Party

09/27/2017 - 11h42

The Regional Federal Appellate Court of the 4th Region confirmed on Tuesday (26) the conviction of former minister Jose Dirceu in Operation Lava Jato and increased his sentence to 30 years and nine months in prison.

The court also decided to acquit João Vaccari Neto, a former treasurer of the Workers' Party, who had been sentenced to nine years in prison in the same lawsuit.

This is the second time that Vaccari has been acquitted by the Porto Alegre-based court responsible for the second-instance trial of Lava Jato's cases with Judge Sergio Moro.

In the lawsuit, the Prosecutor General's Office accuses José Dirceu of having received about R$ 10 million (US$ 3.1 million) in bribes from the contractor Engevix through overpriced contracts with the Services board of Petrobras.

It also states that these bribes were allegedly transferred to the Workers' Party, whose treasurer was Vaccari.

Dirceu was imprisoned from August 2015 until May 2017 and obtained the right to await the appeal in freedom following a decision of the Federal Supreme Court.

In 2016, he was sentenced by Sergio Moro to 20 years and 10 months in prison for the crimes of money laundering, passive corruption and criminal organization.

The Regional Federal Appellate Court maintained the conviction for passive corruption and money laundering.

APPEALS

Dirceu can still appeal the sentence in freedom, until the closure of appeals in the second instance. In his case, there are motions for clarifications, which can be filed in up to two days.

Translated by MARINA DELLA VALLE

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	pedro ladeira - 4.nov.2014/Folhapress Rodolfo Buhrer - 15.abr.2015/Reuters
	Former minister Jose Dirceu (left) and João Vaccari Neto, former treasurer of the Workers' Party