Judge quoted children’s report to ask for Youssef’s arrest – 03/22/2023 – Power

In defending this Tuesday afternoon (21) a second arrest warrant for Alberto Youssef, federal judge Eduardo Appio used a specific point in the report given by Federal Police agents about the moment they went to arrest the money changer, in Itapoá, in the north coast of Santa Catarina, early Monday night (20).

PF agents reported that, at the address indicated to carry out the order to arrest Youssef, two children said that the money changer was “owner of all those buildings”, but did not live there.

The report led Judge Appio to point out “very serious indications that Alberto Youssef has withheld from the judicial and tax authorities the true possession and ownership of the buildings”, indicating that “the investigated would be involved in new criminal practices, especially crimes against the tax order” .

The two arrest warrants against Youssef, one of the pivots of Operation Lava Jato, were signed by Judge Appio between Monday and Tuesday and ended up overturned by a second instance magistrate, Marcelo Malucelli, from the TRF-4 (Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region). . The money changer was not arrested for more than 24 hours. Judge Appio works at the 13th Criminal Court of Curitiba, where the remaining cases of Lava Jato are housed.

In the three-page report made by the PF about the time of Youssef’s arrest in Itapoá, the agents say that they first went to a small condominium, with two blocks, two floors each, “apparently identical and boasting an appearance of simplicity”.

“At the exact moment the police team arrived at the scene, a resident was manually opening the gate to store his vehicle, at which time he was asked about the knowledge of which person named Alberto would reside in any of the apartments, or be known , having reported negatively”, say the PF agents.

“During that same period, two children (appearing to be about 8 years old each), who heard the question asked by the PF agents, voluntarily said that Alberto owned all those buildings, but that he did not live there, and that his brother, from name Antonio, lived in a house (…) that communicated internally with the condominium”, they completed.

The agents went to the house indicated by the children and spoke with Antonio’s wife, who informed them that Youssef lived in a house nearby, located in a condominium by the sea, where, in fact, the PF agents later found Youssef and carried out the order to prison.

Youssef was taken to Curitiba late on Monday night, and the next day, Judge Appio conducted a custody hearing.

In it, the magistrate questioned Youssef about the apartments: “Are these apartments registered in your name, in the name of your brother or a third person?”. Youssef replied that “these apartments are theirs [família do irmão] for many years”. “I don’t keep asking them this, but I believe it must be in their name [do casal]of the daughters”, said the money changer.

Youssef also explained that the beachfront property where he lives is “totally in trouble with IPTU and a series of pending issues” and that, therefore, the house did not even enter the list of assets that he renounced in favor of the Union in the wake of the award-winning collaboration agreement made within the scope of Lava Jato.

According to Youssef’s lawyer, Luis Gustavo Rodrigues Flores, the idea is that the fate of the property be discussed in the future, when the disputes are resolved.

During the custody hearing, which lasted about an hour, the representative of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, Federal Attorney Carolina Bonfadini de Sá, criticized the fact that Judge Appio had raised the question of the buildings at that time.

“The objective of the custody hearing would not be this. It would only be to verify the legality of the arrest”, said the prosecutor, who recently asked Judge Appio to declare himself a suspect to act on the Lava Jato Court. “I am the one presiding over the hearing, doctor. Your insurgency will be recorded”, said the magistrate in the sequence.

For the prosecutor, Youssef’s arrest, ordered ex officio by the judge, was illegal and abusive.

To justify his first arrest warrant against Youssef, Judge Appio argued that the money changer did not keep an updated address in the Federal Court.

In addition, the magistrate rescued a tax representation from the Federal Revenue that dealt with possible crimes committed by Youssef against the tax order, and which had been suspended since May 2020 by determination of the substitute federal judge Gabriela Hardt, in the wake of the benefits obtained by the money changer in your plea agreement.

For Judge Appio, tax representation should not be part of the award-winning collaboration agreement. But, at the custody hearing, Youssef’s defense contested the information, indicating decisions of the Federal Supreme Court to show that “all the facts listed in the tax verification term are prior to the collaboration agreement and, therefore, are crimes covered by the award-winning collaboration “.

“All these assets, real estate, planes, helicopters, are indicated in the records of the award-winning collaboration agreement, in which he [Youssef] resigned in favor of the Union. We even have more assets in the agreement records than those mentioned in the tax verification term, which demonstrates the collaborator’s good faith”, said lawyer Luis Gustavo Rodrigues Flores.

Regarding the address of the money changer, which would be outdated in the Federal Court, Youssef’s defense stated that the location of the house by the sea in Itapoá is expressly informed in the criminal execution process that is being processed by the 12th Court of Curitiba.

Since May 13, 2022, within the scope of criminal execution, the money changer has been authorized to serve house arrest at two addresses, one in São Paulo and the other in Santa Catarina, in Itapoá, where he performs a routine work at the city’s port, in administrative and operational functions, according to Flores.

Still according to the lawyer, there was no update of addresses in the other processes because the cases are suspended.

“We present semi-annual activity reports to the 12th Court. Youssef is a person who is looking for his social reintegration, he found honest work, and there is no element that allows us to say that he is recidivism in criminal behavior. The questions all brought up in the representation tax are prior to the whistle blowing agreement. It is not correct to say that he committed new crimes”, said the lawyer.

Youssef’s lawyer did not return contact details. The money changer was released from prison around 9 pm on Tuesday.