By 3 votes to 2, the Second Panel of the Supreme Court ordered the release of Aldemir Bendine, the former president of Petrobras and Banco do Brasil who has been in preventive custody since July 2017.
Bendine became president of Petrobras in February of 2015, during the Dilma Rousseff government and in the middle of Lava Jato. He was arrested for requesting $3 million from Odebrecht to protect the contractor’s government contracts. In March 2018, he was convicted by then-judge Sergio Moro of corruption and money laundering.
Bendine's lawyer, Alberto Zacharias Toron, argued that his client has already been in custody (before a final conviction) for a long time. This practice anticipates the penalty.
Deputy Attorney General Cláudia Sampaio said that Bendine should remain in custody because he was appointed the president of Petrobras to rid the company of corruption, but in reality, the same corruption continued even amid ongoing Lava Jato investigations.
Minister Gilmar proposed that other precautionary measures be imposed on the defendant, such as surrendering his passport and prohibiting him to leave the country or to maintain contact with others being investigated in Lava Jato. Most of the court agreed with Gilmar.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon