The Brazilian court has asked the defense of the defendants to send the questions they want answered to José Eduardo dos Santos, so that the former ruler can answer in writing.
The Brazilian newspaper also said that besides José Eduardo dos Santos, other Angolan ministers, who will have participated in the contracts, will also answer in the process. However, the court did not reveal the names of the ministers who will make statements.
The decision to hear José Eduardo dos Santos came at the request of Lula da Silva's defense. The lawyers of the former Brazilian president want to prove that a relationship existed between the construction company and the Angolan government before Lula da Silva assumed the presidency of that country.
A relationship that has made ink run: last June, the Spanish newspaper El País reported that the construction company, through Klienfeld - a company used by Odebrecht to allegedly buy political will - transferred about four million euros between 2008 and 2009 to an account, at Banca Privada d'Andorra, of Edson N'Dalu Leite de Morais, son of the former Finance Minister, José Pedro de Morais.
The Spanish newspaper, which quotes a report from Unidad Inteligencia Financiera de Andorra, revealed that the investigators believed that that account would serve to "pay third parties. The investigation thesis is supported, according to the document, by the fact that the account was allegedly used to transfer about 100,000 euros to the former finance minister, José Pedro de Morais, as well as to "pay a catamaran, worth 178,000 euros, a truck, a Mercedes Benz," among other luxury products.
The researchers said it was not possible to know who was the real owner of the money in that account.
