Justice closes investigation against Andrés Sanchez for alleged transfer in Corinthians stadium work

The investigation that investigated the alleged payment of R$ 2.5 million to former federal deputy Andrés Sanchez (PT-SP) by Odebrecht was shelved. The former president of Corinthians was accused of active and passive corruption and money laundering.

In her decision, Judge Silvia Maria Rocha, from the 2nd Federal Criminal Court in São Paulo, followed the argument of the Federal Public Ministry according to which the transactions related to Arena Corinthians made by Odebrecht would have been destined for Sanchez’s 2014 election campaign, according to with information obtained from depositions.

In this way, the conduct could be classified as slush fund, an electoral crime, and not a practice of corruption, under the responsibility of the Federal Court.

In the case file, prosecutor Viviane de Oliveira Martinez says that the suspicion that Andrés Sanchez, Dilma Rousseff and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva could have used these funds to pay bribes to public officials or for other “undue acts” made the MPF request an analysis of Odebrecht’s financial transactions.

This analysis would have shown that the money did not have this destination, “there are indications that the amounts were reverted to the PT’s electoral campaigns in 2014”.

THE sheet revealed in 2017 that Sanchez had been cited in the plea bargain agreements of former superintendent director Luiz Bueno and former president of Infrastructure of the Bahian group, Benedito Júnior, the BJ.

Odebrecht was responsible for building the Corinthians arena. Sanchez presided over the club between 2007 and 2011. The construction of the stadium, which was ready in 2014 and hosted matches for the World Cup in Brazil, began in the last year of the manager’s term. Sanchez was also director of selections at the CBF, between 2011 and 2012, and returned to preside over Corinthians in 2018.

André Luiz de Oliveira, André Negão, former vice president of the alvinegro club and former parliamentary advisor to Sanchez, was appointed as the person responsible for receiving the money, paid in cash.

Both Sanchez and Oliveira have always denied wrongdoing. The former president of Corinthians denied having received any resources from Odebrecht for his campaign in 2014.

Sanchez’s former adviser was also contemplated by the shelving of the investigation.

“The decision restores the truth. André Luiz has always denied any involvement in the facts. The position of the MPF and the judge of the 2nd Federal Criminal Court in deciding to close the police investigation is commendable”, says Julio Clímaco, a criminal lawyer who defended him.