Judge Sets Bail of US$ 16,5 million for Businessman Eike Batista to Remain Under House Arrest

05/03/2017 - 15h14

Judge Marcelo Bretas, responsible for the Car Wash proceedings in Rio, set a bail of R$52 million (US$ 16,5 million) to be paid by Eike Batista for the businessman to be allowed to remain under house arrest, a condition granted under injunction by Justice Gilmar Mendes of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) last week.

Bretas set the amount based on the US$16,5 million in bribes that the Federal Public Prosecutor accused Eike of paying to former Rio governor Sérgio Cabral (PMDB party) between 2010 and 2011.

The businessman and his right-hand-man, Flávio Godinho, were accused of and charged with corruption and money laundering in February.

	Reprodução/Video
	Eike Batista leaves a Rio de Janeiro jail for house arrest ahead of a trial on corruption charges

Marcelo Bretas declared that the businessman might be able to conceal assets which would impair the restitution of amounts under an eventual condemnation.

In his decision, the judge argued that when he ordered the freezing of assets of the accused in the Operação Eficiência (Efficiency Operation) Eike showed balances of only R$158 thousand (US$ 50 thousand) in his accounts.

"This fact could present, still in a preliminary phase, that the accused could be concealing amounts that should be made available due to his criminal accountability", he wrote as the official responsible for the Car Wash Operation in Rio.

The businessman left prison on Saturday (the 29th) after an injunction from Gilmar Mendes considered that the fact that he had been accused of serious crimes - corruption and money laundering - in and of itself, couldn't serve as the only and exclusive motive for maintaining him in preventive detention.

Eike's lawyer, Fernando Martins, declared in a written communication that he had been informed of the decision regarding the bond and found it to be "perplexing".

"The decision is unenforceable, since all of the assets and resources in Eike Batista's name have already been blocked by determination of the Federal Judiciary. Maintaining the amount of this bond, will result, necessarily, in a new detention for Eike Batista, and as a consequence, noncompliance with the decision of the STF", he said.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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