Toffoli says suspension of Odebrecht fine does not reach agreement with CGU

Minister Dias Toffoli, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), clarified this Friday (9) that the recent decision to suspend payment of the Odebrecht fine resulting from the leniency agreement signed within the scope of the Operation Lava Jato investigations is valid only with the which was negotiated with the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), without reaching an agreement with the Federal Comptroller General (CGU).

Last Tuesday (6), the CGU and the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) questioned Toffoli’s decision and stated that the fine is maintained before both bodies. The minister suspended the payment of R$3.8 billion under the leniency agreement, out of the total R$8.5 billion imposed on the former contractor.

Toffoli set a deadline of 60 days for the parties to express their views on the process, allowing them to deliberate on whether or not to suspend payment of the amounts negotiated with the MPF, after access to the material seized in Operation Spoofing.

The minister clarified that his initial decision only authorized Novonor (formerly Odebrecht) to reevaluate the terms of the leniency agreements with the two bodies, but without deliberating on the suspension of the pecuniary obligations of these agreements.

He said that “there was no deliberation on the suspension of pecuniary obligations relating to the aforementioned agreements entered into by the company Novonor with the Comptroller General of the Union and the Attorney General of the Union”.

“The leniency agreements entered into by the AGU and the CGU do not exhibit, according to the initial presentation of the applicant companies, the same defects highlighted in the agreements signed by the MPF, whether in terms of the declaration of will, or in the collection and allocation of assets and resources accumulated by the aforementioned agreements”, wrote Toffoli in the decision (see in full).

He highlighted that “I only authorized the reevaluation of the terms of the Leniency Agreements signed with the Comptroller General of the Union and the Attorney General of the Union, as stated in the request originally formulated by the applicant herself. Therefore, there was no decision on the suspension of pecuniary obligations relating to the aforementioned agreements entered into by the company Novonor with the Comptroller General of the Union and the Attorney General of the Union”.

The request for clarification on the scope of the decision came after Novonor’s defense suggested that the suspension of payments would cover both the agreement with the MPF and the CGU.