In memory of the TRF3, on appeal against the first instance sentence, the college of the future minister of the STF insists on the return of the gifts that the president received between 2003 and 2010, including five sculptures, a dagger, three swords and a crown
Through his lawyers, the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) presented to Justice the latest arguments of the process which is moving to try to recover the gifts received during its first two mandates (2003/2010). The piece, called a memorial, has been attached to the pretrial appeal files since March 2020 at the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region (TRF3), in São Paulo.
The objects claimed by the petista are part of the collection that became known as Lula’s ‘stuff’ – he himself defined, in a statement to Operation Lava Jato, the gifts with which he was contemplated.
The attorney’s office Cristiano Zanin Martins, appointed by Lula to the Federal Supreme Court (STF), represents the president in the action. The future minister does not sign the memorial, but is nonetheless registered as a lawyer in the trial, in which he acted from the outset.
After getting his name approved in the Senate, Zanin began withdrawing from actions stemming from Lava Jato and others in which he acted as an attorney. This is a formality that must be fulfilled before taking office at the STF, scheduled for August 3 – the Judiciary goes on hiatus.
The wife of the future minister, Valeska Teixeira Zanin Martins, and lawyers Eliakin Tatsuo and Maria de Lourdes Lopes, from the same office, sign the document. They argue that the decision that forced Lula to return the gifts was ‘hasty’ and that the president’s right to trial was ‘limited’.
“Considering, therefore, that the appellant (Lula) was not even called to defend himself in the proceedings carried out by the Federal Court of Auditors and that any decision pronounced there could affect his sphere of rights, as in fact happened, there was, in the final analysis, an undeniable violation of the principles of the adversarial system and the broad defense”, they argue.
Lula was left with the gifts when he left office, but the Federal Audit Office (TCU) ordered an audit to see if there was a diversion of Union assets. The proceeding, conducted by the Secretariat of Administration of the Government Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, concluded that 21 assets should return to make up public assets.
The list includes a paperweight, three coins, a bibliocanth, five sculptures, two models, a wine goblet, a dagger, three swords, a crown, an order, a decorative plate, and ancient coins.
The gifts were in a safe reserved by Lula in a Banco do Brasil branch on Rua Líbero Badaró in downtown São Paulo, which was the subject of searches in Lava Jato in March 2016. At the time, then-judge Sérgio Moro authorized the seizure of jewels and objects of art. The collection was held at the site and BB became custodian of the assets.
Another argument from the president’s lawyers is that the deadline for the TCU to claim the bribes expired in 2015. The Court of Auditors’ ruling was in August 2016.
Presidents may receive official gifts, but the items must be returned to Union Heritage. The exception is for consumer or “very personal” items, such as clothes and perfume.
Lula maintains that he only has the gifts classified as ‘personal collections’ by the Presidency of the Republic’s Private Collections Management System. The petitioner filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court of São Bernardo do Campo (SP).
The first sentence was unfavourable. Judge Carlos Alberto Loverra said that “all bodies of public administration, especially the President of the Republic, must observe the constitutional principles of morality and impersonality”.
“Gifts received from the person of the Head of State and the Brazilian Government are intended for the country, with the exception of those of a very personal or consumable nature. , certainly it would also be up to him to acquire, with his own resources, the gifts offered to foreign representatives, which is not even taken into consideration”, the magistrate retorted.
Lula then filed the appeal, which was distributed to Judge Nery Júnior’s office in March 2020. The trial has not yet moved forward. The case was dismissed on April 27, which led to the defense sending the brief, but the trial was postponed.
Source: Terra
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