Minister Gilmar Mendes, dean of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), voted in favor of maintaining the decision that annulled all trials and investigations into businessman Marcelo Odebrecht in the Lava Jato operation.
It was Minister Dias Toffoli who ordered the suspension of the trials with the justification that there was “collusion” between the then federal judge Sérgio Moro and the task force of Curitiba. He extended to the businessman a decision that benefited President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
The Second College of the STF decides, in virtual plenary, whether or not to maintain Toffoli’s monocratic decision. The ministers analyze an appeal from the Attorney General’s Office (PGR).
The votes of Edson Fachin, Kassio Nunes Marques and André Mendonça are awaited.
“Abusive methods”
In his vote, Gilmar Mendes said that Lava Jato used “illegal and abusive methods to weaken the entrepreneur’s right to defense.” The vote also said that Sérgio Moro and Deltan Dallagnol, a former prosecutor who coordinated the task force, “adapted strategies against him, laying the foundations for his future conviction.”
“The investigation, arrest and conviction of the attacker are the result of a strategy conceived, organized and executed by the Lava Jato task force and former federal judge Sérgio Moro to make it impossible for his lawyers to exercise adversarial proceedings and a broad defense,” the minister wrote.
The Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet, argues that the situations of Lula and Marcelo Odebrecht are different and, therefore, the decision in favor of the president could not be extended to the businessman.
Gilmar Mendes disagreed. The minister argued that the messages seized as part of Operation Spoofing, which arrested the hackers responsible for invading the mobile phones of members of the Lava Jato task force, show that Sérgio Moro and the prosecutors “specifically addressed the situation” of the businessman, “mentioning his name and combining initiatives to promote proceedings against him.”
“The documents attached to the case by the defense reveal not only that former judge Sérgio Moro collaborated with members of the task force to undermine the defendant’s defense possibilities, but also that he had a personal interest in his conviction. Apparently, the intention was that the defendant was pressured with different investigations, prosecutions and precautionary measures, such as preventive detention and freezing of assets, to the point that he agreed to inform his co-defendants,” Gilmar defended.
The virtual process is a form of asynchronous voting, meaning ministers register their positions on an online platform, without debate in person or by videoconference. The process remains open until next Friday, 6.
As the rapporteur of the trial, it was Toffoli who opened the voting. He defended the maintenance of the decision itself, arguing that the PGR “did not present suitable reasons to modify the previously adopted agreement”.
A self-confessed defendant, Marcelo Odebrecht signed a collaboration agreement with the Curitiba task force and admitted to bribes to hundreds of public officials and politicians from different parties. He was president of the construction company that bears the family name when, in 2014, the Lava Jato scandal broke out, arresting the group’s top executives. The defense now claims that the businessman was forced to sign the statement.
While canceling the trials and investigations involving the entrepreneur, Toffoli maintained the validity of his collaboration contract.
Source: Terra
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