Former senator Fernando Collor de Mello is suspected of having received R$ 30 million in bribes for corruption in contracts involving BR Distribuidora.| Photo: Roque de Sá/Agência Senado

The ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) resume this Thursday (18) the trial of the criminal action that investigates the involvement of former Senator Fernando Collor de Mello in the signing of irregular contracts with BR Distribuidora, between the years 2010 and 2014.

In the session on Wednesday (17), Minister Edson Fachin, who is also the rapporteur of the case, voted to sentence him to 33 years and 10 months in prison for passive corruption, money laundering and criminal association, in addition to a fine of Rs. $20 million in collective moral damages.

Edson Fachin said, in the vote, that Collor’s money laundering has been duly proven by making 42 deposits in the former senator’s current accounts and 65 in accounts of companies controlled by him, to circumvent the inspection mechanisms of the financial authorities.

In addition to Fachin, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, reviewer of the criminal action, also voted in favor of the conviction.

The criminal action to which the former senator responds is an unfolding of one of the phases of Operation Lava Jato opened in 2017, and points out that Collor would have received bribes of R$ 30 million for political influence in the former subsidiary of Petrobras.

In addition to Collor, the alleged operator of the scheme and friend of the former senator, Pedro Paulo Bergamachi, and the financial director of the politician’s companies, Luis Pereira Duarte de Amorim, are also being tried in the criminal action.