Lava Jato, corruption and ex-party action: this is how Dino voted in his first week as STF minister

Back in the judiciary after 18 years of political life, the recently sworn-in Minister of the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Flávio Dino made his debut in his new role this week by voting in cases on Operation Lava Jato, the January 8 attacks, the tie-up between delivery drivers and app companies, a corruption case between a lawyer and a federal court panel, “election surpluses” and a labor conviction against Petrobrás.

Dino inherited the collection of 340 cases that were under the reporting of retired minister Rosa Weber, who left the Supreme Court when she turned 75, the maximum age allowed by the Court.

This amount includes 235 cases initiated directly at the STF and another 105 appeals, i.e. those from other courts or tribunals. The “legacy” represents 1.3% of the Supreme Court’s overall collection, which has 25,242 pending cases.

“Uberization”

In his first vote, on Monday 26, the minister accompanied the rapporteur Edson Fachin and spoke in favor of the general repercussions of the sentence on the employment relationship between workers and delivery and transport platforms, such as Uber, Rappi, Cabify and iFood.

There is no value judgment on the topic yet. What the STF is deciding is the extent of the decision that has yet to be made. According to Dino, the decision should apply to all trials with the same topic. If this happened, it could set an important precedent regarding driver-app relationships and more than 10,000 actions could be affected.

Tangent

On Tuesday 27th Dino voted in favor of continuing proceedings accusing a lawyer of money laundering and exploiting prestige. This was the first occasion that saw Dino and Cristiano Zanin meet in person, the two appointed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in the current mandate. In their first meeting, their votes differed from each other.

The trial, which takes place in secret, ended 2 to 2, with Zanin and Luiz Fux, rapporteur, voting for the dismissal of the criminal proceedings. Dino broke the tie after colleagues Alexandre de Moraes and Cármen Lúcia, two of his sponsors for the nomination to the STF, voted for the continuation of the action.

The case involves the suspicion that the lawyer worked to buy decisions of the magistrates of the Federal Regional Court of the 5th Region (TRF-5), based in Pernambuco, in favor of a former director of the Institute of Weights and Measures of Rio Grande do Norte (Ipem-RN).

Petrobras

Also on Tuesday, the STF formed a majority to maintain a decision that overturned a union conviction against Petrobras worth R$37.8 billion. The adjudication of oil workers’ appeals against the decision was carried out by the First Panel, comprising five ministers. Dino followed the vote of rapporteur Moraes and Cármen Lúcia, in favor of the state company.

January 8

Still following Moraes, Dino fully followed the speaker’s vote in the criminal proceedings of January 8, sentencing 15 defendants to sentences ranging from 14 to 17 years in prison.

With the vote, the minister adheres to the harsher trend in the trials regarding the episode of the attack on the headquarters of the Three Powers in Brasilia, and the tendency is to increase the penalties. After the retirement of Minister Rosa Weber, due to the lack of a majority, the sentences were established in a middle ground, slightly lower than that proposed by the rapporteur.

Car wash

This week, the minister also gave his first opinion on a case involving Operation Lava Jato. Dino voted to reject the request of former Speaker of the House Eduardo Cunha, who intends to drag an investigation into the bribes allegedly paid by Odebrecht to the former parliamentarian to the Electoral Tribunal.

The investigation into Cunha was opened in the wake of accusations by Odebrecht executives, who reported an alleged payment of 20 million reais to the former speaker of the Chamber, as well as million-dollar bribes to other deputies and senators. Like Dino, Minister Dias Toffoli also accompanied the speaker. Zanin declared himself incompetent to judge the case.

‘Electoral vanci’ and PSB

Dino voted in favor of an action that would benefit his former party, the PSB, by changing the rules on the distribution of “election residues” in the Legislature. By a majority, the Court ruled that the new rules will apply only to future elections and will not be retroactive to the 2022 elections.

Moraes, Gilmar Mendes, Toffoli and Kassio Marques had the same understanding as Dino. If the appeal were accepted by the Supreme Court, the party to which Dino was affiliated until the 21st, one day before taking on the role of STF minister, would obtain an additional seat in the Chamber.

Judicial technician diploma

This week, Dino also formed a majority with Cármen, Moraes, Zanin, Toffoli and the rapporteur Fachin, to reject a direct appeal of unconstitutionality (ADI) presented by the National Association of Judicial Analysts and the Federal Public Ministry (Anajus), against the law that requires the achievement of the qualification to practice the profession of judicial technician.

Monocratic decisions

To date, Dino has made three monocratic decisions. One of these, the suspension of the court decisions that ordered the seizure and freezing of the assets and valuables of the State Sanitation Company of Pará (Cosanpa). Furthermore, he accepted the request of the National Association of State and Federal District Lawyers (Anape) to join as amicus curiae in the appeal which calls into question the constitutionality of the Single Legal Regime of Civilian Public Employees of the State of Rondônia.

The minister also rejected a request to suspend the payment of legal fees presented by Marcellus Glaucus Gerassi Parente, regarding the trial which involves a fight for the inheritance and which puts at risk a billion-dollar company from the Paulista region.

Source: Terra

Rose

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