Aras tries to place a successor in the PGR outside the triple list – 05/21/2023 – Politics

Augusto Aras seeks to cacifer himself with Lula’s surroundings (PT) to have a voice in the choice of his successor and to place his replacement in the PGR (Attorney General of the Republic).

The fact of having been chosen to command the organ outside the triple list of the category is considered by Aras one of his assets and he is now trying to convince the current occupant of the Planalto Palace to repeat the dose.

Lula says he no longer thinks about considering the triple list for choosing who will command the PGR. The occupant of the post has the prerogative to conduct investigations and denounce the President of the Republic.

Even though he was nominated by former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Aras tells interlocutors that he is the best option for Lula – on the grounds that it is not part of his style to interfere in the political process.

He also says that he would not give the occupant of the Planalto different treatment than Bolsonaro was given. The attorney general’s actions were linked to the interests of the former president and he was accused of abdicating his duty to supervise.

For such a stance, he was even considered by Bolsonaro for a nomination to the STF (Federal Supreme Court), if he were re-elected president. An eventual reappointment to the PGR under Lula will fuel Aras’s dream of a Supreme seat.

The current prosecutor has been betting on dialogue with Congress to raise support. The presidential nomination is submitted to the Senate, which judges the chosen one and submits the name to a vote in plenary.

In 2021, amid accusations against Bolsonaro for anti-democratic acts and the government’s failure to face Covid-19, the attorney general had no problems renewing his mandate, including opposition votes.

Despite the nods to Lula, Aras knows that the political cost of an eventual reappointment for the 2023-2025 biennium is high. Therefore, if he is unable to qualify for reappointment, Aras seeks to be an actor in the succession to veto opponents and see someone aligned as his replacement.

One of them is deputy prosecutor Luiz Augusto Santos Lima, one of those designated by Aras to act in the STF and pointed out as having a conservative and discreet profile.

Luiz Augusto took over the post in the Aras management after the departure of José Elaeres Marques Teixeira from office, in 2021, due to friction with the attorney general.

Elaeres was a signatory of a note that criticized Aras for his omission during the Bolsonaro administration, on the grounds that he did not investigate authorities with jurisdiction in the Supreme Court for possible crimes of responsibility in the pandemic.

Another of them is deputy electoral attorney general Paulo Gustavo Gonet Branco, who also has the support of minister Gilmar Mendes, dean of the Supreme Court. Gonet was a partner of the minister at the IDP (Brazilian Institute of Education, Development and Research).

He was appointed to the post in 2021 under the mistrust of sub-prosecutors who oppose Aras. Despite the technical preparation, they understood that Gonet would align with the interests of the Planalto Palace under Bolsonaro, as well as the PGR.

In recent months, however, Gonet has moved closer to the agenda of the Lula administration, as bets have increased that he would be a strong candidate for attorney general.

In April, he defended in a demonstration at the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) that Bolsonaro be declared ineligible in the process with more advanced progress that could remove the former president from electoral disputes for eight years.

Another quoted, but seen with less chance, is sub-prosecutor Carlos Frederico Santos, coordinator of the Strategic Group to Combat Anti-Democratic Acts, who presents the complaints against the coup demonstrators who attacked the headquarters of the three Powers on January 8.

A discarded name is that of the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic and Aras’ right-hand man in his two terms at the PGR, Lindôra Araújo, who is aligned with the Bolsonaro family.

Other members of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office have also articulated to make it possible for Aras to succeed in the PGR, both inside and outside the list of ANPR (National Association of Public Prosecutors).

Former president of the entity, Antônio Carlos Bigonha has the support of lawyers aligned with the Planalto and circulated in higher courts to obtain support. Despite being from the ANPR, he should not apply for the entity’s list.

Members of the Public Ministry who intend to run on the list point out that the list can serve as an option for the decision of the President of the Republic, who would not necessarily have to choose outside.

Names that were in the last two ballots of the ANPR should compete for the list, such as sub-attorneys Mario Bonsaglia and Luiza Frischeisen.

President of ANPR, Ubiratan Cazetta defends the process. “We are going to defend it. The triple list is the model that brings transparency to the process and allows for society’s participation,” he said.

Lula, in 2003, took the initiative to consider the choices of prosecutors to define his nominee – a sequence interrupted in 2019 by Bolsonaro when he opted for Aras.