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Enron Mail |
FYI, the criminal proceeding was settled yesterday w/o the indictment being
accepted by the judge -- a good result for us. It's worth noting that Celina did an excellent job handling this. Rgds, John p.s. note that the rulers are plastic, not wood . . . ---------------------- Forwarded by John Novak/SA/Enron on 04/18/2001 12:38 PM --------------------------- Celina Ozorio 04/18/2001 11:42 AM To: Peter E Weidler/NA/Enron@Enron, Laine A Powell/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Christiaan Huizer/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Peter N Anderson/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Celso Bernardi/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT cc: John Novak/SA/Enron@Enron, Michelle Blaine/ENRON@enronXgate, Eddy Daniels/NA/Enron@Enron Subject: Re: Cuiaba 480 MW Power Project - GasMat Criminal Proceeding The hearing for the GasMat criminal proceeding took place yesterday in Cuiab?. GasMat succeeded in making a settlement with the prosecutor's office and the case was dismissed. The prosecutor has actually apologised for the mistake they made in offering the indictment without proposing a previous settlement. For that reason, the judge did not accept the indictment and the prosecutor proposed that GasMat renders community services by manufacturing 2000 plastic rulers with the following encryption: "Minist,rio P?blico do Estado de Mato Grosso - call the Minist,rio P?blico at 65-612-2005 to report environmental crimes". GasMat accepted the penalty and the settlement was made (conditioned to the delivery of the rulers in 30 days), the caveat is that GasMat will not be able to benefit from Law 9.099/95 (i.e. to settle in a new criminal proceeding) for a period of 5 years. GasMat does not keep any criminal record. Please let me know if anyone needs a copy of the sentence. Thanks. Regards, Celina ---------------------- Forwarded by Celina Ozorio/SA/Enron on 04/18/2001 10:49 AM --------------------------- Celina Ozorio 04/09/2001 12:54 PM To: Laine A Powell/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT cc: John Novak/SA/Enron@Enron, Peter E Weidler/NA/Enron@Enron, Michelle Blaine/ENRON@enronXgate, Eddy Daniels/NA/Enron@Enron Subject: Re: Cuiaba 480 MW Power Project - GasMat Criminal Proceeding Laine: The prosecutor's office has presented an indictment against GasMat requesting the suspension of the criminal proceeding if GasMat provides community services, i.e. the 2000 rulers. The suspension of the proceeding implies in a probation period of two years during which GasMat cannot be called into any other new proceeding. According to verbal understandings with outside counsels, since the violation is a "minor crime", the prosecutors should have tried a settlement before offering the indictment. One the other hand, the judge has not yet "formally" received the indictment. In that view, one of our possible defenses is to try to reverse this situation and propose a settlement before the acceptance of the indictment by the judge so that GasMat would be free from the 2 years probation period. However, even if GasMat does a settlement it would still face a future limitation in which it won't be able to benefit from Law 9099/95 (Law of Special Judgements) for minor violations, but in neither the cases GasMat will be considered a "primary convict". Not to be able to benefit from Law 9099/95 would be a problem if the prosecutor's office decides to offer an indictment based on the other two "Autos de Infra??o" issued by IBAMA. Apparently, the only way to be absolutely free for any charge is by presenting the defense on the proceeding and proving that the Contractor was, in fact, the violator. I am still awaiting a formal position from the outside counsels as to which course of action should be taken. They are still reviewing the documents and the jurisprudence. As soon as I have their feedback I will inform you. With respect to a concern that Pete had - why not making a settlement with the prosecutor's office before going into Court? - I need to explain that the Criminal Procedural Law prescribes that once the prosecutor's office offers the indictment, the State Court not only has a prerogative but also an obligation to carry on with the proceeding. Even if a settlement is possible, it needs to be made in the records of the proceeding and overlooked by the judge. Regards, Celina Laine A Powell@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT 04/09/2001 08:10 AM To: Celina Ozorio/SA/Enron@Enron cc: John Novak/SA/Enron@Enron, Peter E Weidler/NA/Enron@Enron Subject: Cuiaba 480 MW Power Project - GasMat Criminal Proceeding Celina - Pls provide the status of our defense to this criminal proceeding. rgds Laine ---------------------- Forwarded by Laine A Powell/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT on 04/09/2001 10:09 AM --------------------------- Christiaan Huizer 04/09/2001 12:51 PM To: bboeh@opic.gov, Frank.Kluesener@kfw.de cc: Celina Ozorio/SA/Enron@Enron, Laine A Powell/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Peter N Anderson/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Eddy Daniels@Enron, John Novak/SA/Enron@Enron Subject: Cuiaba 480 MW Power Project - GasMat Criminal Proceeding A criminal proceeding has been moved against GasMat. The criminal proceeding seems to be a result from the irregular deforesting at Piraputanga Ridge. In September, 2000, the IBAMA (federal environmental body) started an environmental investigation at two ridges where a directional plataform was being built and concluded that the deforested area was greater than the licensed. As a result, IBAMA installed two administrative proceedings "Autos de Infra??o" and, as a consequence, issued a fine for both proceedings. Auto n. 085007 relates to Ridge 10 and the description of the infraction is: "To destroy native forest, transplanting 20 trees and replanting them to prevent from being penalized". Auto n. 085006 relates to the "Serra Piraputanga" and the description is "to execute drilling services in the Piraputanga Ridge to install the pipeline in area greater than the authorized." The Mato Grosso judge issued a notice determining that GasMat's legal representative appears in Court on next April 17, 2000. More information will be provided as soon as available. Regards, Christiaan
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