Abuse of Authority CPI can “jump the queue” from February

The so-called CPI on Abuse of Authority will have the chance to “cut the queue” of parliamentary inquiry commissions at the beginning of the next legislature, starting on Wednesday, February 1st. The CPI, which had the signature of 180 parliamentarians from the Chamber, was proposed in November 2022 by deputy Marcel Van Hattem (Novo-RS) to investigate alleged arbitrariness by ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and the Superior Electoral Court (TSE ).

The existence of previous requests from other CPIs is usually one of the justifications for presidents of the Chamber for not installing a commission that they, for political reasons, do not want to function. There is a regimental queue for the installation of these commissions, which was established by the Question of Order nº 61, of 2003, and by the Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI) 1.635, judged in the STF. There are currently nine other requests for the creation of CPIs in the Chamber, all prior to that of Marcel Van Hattem. That is, the Abuse of Authority CPI would, in theory, be the last to be installed.

But, at the end of all legislatures, which takes place on January 31, requests for the creation of CPIs are filed. This opens a loophole for the commission to investigate possible abuses by the Judiciary to be filed before others. And thus, one of the arguments for the commission not to get off the ground would be overthrown.

The CPI on Abuse of Authority was proposed to investigate whether there was a violation of fundamental rights and guarantees practiced by ministers of the STF and TSE. Van Hattem’s request specifically cites decisions by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, such as the one that resulted in the search and seizure operation against eight businessmen who exchanged private messages saying they preferred a coup to see the PT’s return to power.

Lira argued “lack of time” not to install the Abuse of Authority CPI

In December, the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), justified the non-installation of the CPI on Abuse of Authority. He said there would be time left for the investigation to take place before the end of the current legislature. He also suggested that the future commission be mixed, with deputies and senators.

“It would be a production of work without effectiveness. I suggested to your excellency [Van Hattem] that, at the beginning of the new legislature, it would do the same work for the same mixed CPI. In this case, in addition to not having any type of obstacle to its installation, so that no one can be treated this way, it would be more effective”, said Lira last month.

In the same session, Van Hattem had said that the position adopted by the current administration “prevents the House from fully exercising its constitutional competence to inspect and investigate illicit acts”. Since February 2021, when he took over as mayor, Lira has not authorized the opening of any CPI.

Deputy do Novo said, in plenary, that the majority of requests in process did not have a well-defined determined fact and that they could be archived by the Board of Directors. This would allow, according to him, the creation of the CPI of Abuse of Authority still in 2022.

However, Van Hattem was re-elected. And, if the deputy again gets the necessary signatures for the CPI request (171 deputies, one third of the total) right at the beginning of the new term, the commission will be at the beginning of the regimental queue. That is, it will have priority over other requests that may be registered.

If he chooses to request a mixed commission, with senators and deputies, as suggested by Lira, he would also have to obtain the signatures of 27 senators (one third of the total).

THE People’s Gazette, Van Hattem said that his strategy will be to seek signatures both to install a mixed CPI, of deputies and senators, and a single one from the Chamber. “We are going to collect the signatures for the CPI again. It is very likely that we will do this, and then to the CPMI with the signature of the senators”, he says. “I want to ensure that, in one way or another, it will be installed, either through a parliamentary committee in the Chamber alone, or a mixed one, made up of deputies and senators.”

Abuse of Authority CPI will compete with other investigation requests

The CPI on Abuse of Authority, however, will enter the fray over which parliamentary investigation gets off the ground first. There are, for example, proposals both in the Chamber and in the Senate to investigate acts of vandalism in Brasília and the responsibility of the current Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, in the depredation of the headquarters of the three powers.

Another CPI request that will be filed at the end of the current legislature of the Chamber and that may reappear at the beginning of the new one is the one that deals with an investigation into the performance of research institutes during the 2022 elections. with the signatures of 179 deputies, it was filed after the first round. The objective is to investigate the supposed favoritism of some candidates, especially those of the left, who appeared with much more voting intentions in polls than they actually had at the polls.

Like Van Hattem, congressman Carlos Jordy (PL-RJ), author of the request for the creation of the Research Institutes CPI, also told the People’s Gazette who intends to carry out a new campaign to collect signatures to enable the opening of this investigation in the next legislature.

What are the other CPIs that the Chamber will file

In addition to the CPIs on Abuse of Authority and Research Institutes, there are eight other requests for the creation of parliamentary commissions of inquiry in the Chamber. All were filed between 2019 and 2020 and did not go through an order by Arthur Lira.

A commission that has been waiting for the mayor’s order since 2019 is the CPI to investigate airline ticket prices, authored by Deputy Fabio Henrique (União-SE). The parliamentarian justified the opening of the commission by saying that it was necessary to clarify the reasons for prices to remain “at such onerous levels”, even in the face of “several subsidies granted by different states of the federation to airlines to reduce the cost of fuel”, among other policies beneficial to the market. A request for the creation of a CPI similar to that of Fábio Henrique, also to determine plane tickets, was filed by deputy João Carlos Bacelar (PL-BA).

THE CPI Against Child Abuse it was proposed in May 2020 by deputy Julian Lemos (União-PB) and had the endorsement of 192 other parliamentarians. The objective was to investigate crimes of abuse and sexual exploitation against children and adolescents on the internet, in support of the operation “Luz da Infância”, coordinated by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.

Parliamentary commissions for the investigation of “financial pyramids” in cryptocurrency management services (proposed by deputy Aureo Ribeiro, from Solidariedade); in resolutions and decisions of the National Electric Energy Agency (authored by Deputy Léo Moraes, from Podemos); of Brazilian government relations with Cuba (by Congresswoman Paulo Belmonte, from Citizenship); of federal government spending on state advertising (by Mrs Carol de Toni, PL); and a CPI to check if there was violation of institutional principles in the performance of former judge Sergio Moro during Lava Jato (proposed by Deputy André Figueiredo, PDT).

Senate and mixed CPIs will also be archived

The four CPIs that are awaiting installation in the Senate should also be filed at the end of the current legislature, on January 31st. Check out what they are:

• MEC’s ​​CPI: sought to investigate irregularities in the allocation of public funds from the Ministry of Education (MEC) and the National Fund for the Development of Education (FNDE), after complaints that pastors were charging bribes from mayors in exchange for speed in the allocation of public funds from the portfolio to the municipality . The request was made by Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), in March 2022.
• CPI of Unfinished Public Works: Requested by Senator Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ) in April 2022, it intended to investigate alleged irregularities in the conduct of public works between 2006 and 2018, and possible irregularities in the Student Financing Program (Fies).
• Drug Trafficking CPI: requested by senator Eduardo Girão (Podemos-CE) in February 2022, aimed to determine the relationship between the increase in homicide rates of young people and adolescents with the activity of drug trafficking.
• CPI of Fires and Deforestation in the Legal Amazon: two requests for the creation of the commission were presented, in August and November 2019, by senators Randolfe and Plínio Valério (PSDB-AM).

Considering that the commissions of inquiry are temporary and that the regulations of both the House and the Senate provide that the term of a CPI cannot exceed the legislature in which it was created, the Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) of Fake News will also be archived . It was installed in 2019 to investigate the influence of fake news on national politics. But it has been paralyzed since March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began. A CPMI has deputies and senators among its members.

Remember the CPIs held in the Chamber in the current legislature

Three CPIs were held in the Chamber during the current legislature. All of them took place in 2019, the first year of the legislature, when the House was chaired by deputy Rodrigo Maia (PSDB-RJ).

THE BNDES CPI investigated, in 2019, international contracts of the public bank during the previous governments of Lula and Dilma Rousseff. The final report called for the indictment of more than 50 people, including former PT ministers Guido Mantega and Antonio Palocci, alleging that billions of reais were diverted from BNDES coffers to benefit Brazilian companies that provided services in other countries, notably Odebrecht and JBS. The report was presented to the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), with no developments.

THE CPI of Brumadinho investigated in 2019 the responsibilities for the rupture of a dam belonging to Vale in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, in January of that year. More than 250 people died. The CPI’s final report proposed the indictment of Vale, the German company TÜV SÜD (which attested to the safety of the dam) and 22 other people. The CPI also presented projects to improve legislation on mining dams.

already the Oil CPI, installed in November 2019, set out to investigate the origin of the oil slicks that spread along the Northeast coast that year, considered one of the biggest environmental disasters on the Brazilian coast. The aim was to determine responsibility for the leak. Work was interrupted because of the Covid-19 pandemic and was closed in 2021, after deputies missed the deadline to approve an extension of the commission. No reports were produced.