TRF-1’s decision only exempted Dilma because she had already been punished for a felony offense and there can be no double sentencing
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) lied on Saturday the 26th in Angola, stating that the “tax pedal” that led to the impeachment of the former president Dilma Rousseff (PT), did not exist. In 2016, an audit by the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) confirmed the practice and concluded that the Dilma government repeated the “pedaladas” in the first year of his second term. The practice was revealed by Estadão.
In Luanda, the capital of Angola, Lula spoke of the filing of the irregularity action for “tax toll” in the Federal Regional Court of the 1st region (TRF-1). The president declared that “we need to see how to repair something that has been judged for something that did not happen” – referring to the fiscal effect.
“The Federal Court of Brasilia acquitted Dilma of the pedaling charge, Dilma was acquitted and now I will discuss how to do it.
The president also joked that it is not possible to restore the former president’s political rights because he wants to end his mandate, and said that the ride, which has already been tried, would not have existed. “You have to know how to repair something that has been judged for something that didn’t happen,” he added.
Dilma, who today he is the president of the Bank of the BRICS, the mandate was revoked for a crime of responsibility, precisely because of the practice that has become known as “fiscal pedaling”. Contrary to what Lula said, TRF-1 did not acquit the former president for practice.
The Court closed the trial, after having established that Dilma and the former Finance Minister Guido Mantega could not answer for impropriety, because they had already been punished for crimes of responsibility. To avoid being fined twice for similar actions, TRF-1 decided that Dilma and Mantega would not have to answer for the “tax ride” after they left their government jobs.
During a press conference, together with the president of Angola, João Lourenço, the Brazilian said he had “never” seen a “press so well educated”. “I think it’s because you’re here,” Lula told Lourenço. “In Brazil, the press doesn’t behave like that, no. In Brazil, the press charges more.”
However, the statement does not take into account the fact that Angola dropped to 125th place in the 2023 press freedom ranking, organized every year by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). In 2022, Angola was ranked 99th in the list that evaluates the qualitative and quantitative performance of the press in 180 countries in terms of economic, sociocultural, political, legal and security criteria.
“After 40 years of government by the Dos Santos clan, the arrival of João Lourenço to the presidency in September 2017 did not mark a turning point for press freedom. Censorship and control of information still weigh heavily on Angolan journalists” , the organization said in this year’s ranking. Brazil moved up to 92nd in the 2023 ranking, after occupying the 110th position in 2022.
What are “tax pedals”?
A “tax pedal” was the name given to the practice of National treasure deliberately delaying the transfer of money to banks (public and also private) and municipalities, such as the INSS. The goal of the Treasury and the Department of Finance was to artificially improve the federal accounts. By failing to transfer the money, the government presented lower monthly expenditures than they should have been in practice, thereby misleading the financial market and fiscal specialists.
Revealed by Estadao in the first half of 2014, the mechanism had already started to take place in 2013. Since the revelation, the Public minister (MP) next to accounts of the Judicial Union (TCU) has called for the opening of an investigation against the economic team of the Dilma government. In 2015, in Dilma’s second term, with Joaquim Levy As finance minister, the new economic group admitted that the “pedals” existed and pledged to make corrections to them.
Subsequently, the report produced by the agency’s auditors confirmed the “fiscal pedal”. The case went to trial at the TCU, which unanimously opted for the government’s conviction and explanation of the mechanism by 17 government officials.
The fact served as an argument for Dilma’s impeachment request. Presented by jurists Hélio Bicudo, Miguel Reale Júnior and Janaína Paschoal in October 2015, the document called for the resignation of the then president, accused of having committed a crime of liability by issuing three supplementary credit decrees without the authorization of Congress National and delay the transfer of Treasury resources to public banks for the payment of social programs.
Dilma was impeached in 2016 after a pending trial in the House and Senate. She was permanently removed from office in August of the same year. The entire procedure was followed by the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
Source: Terra
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