Ciro accumulates convictions and faces a queue of creditors and even a block to license a car

Brasilia DF) – Known for his fiery rhetoric against opponents, former presidential candidate Ciro Gomes (PDT) collects convictions for moral damages and has been the target of serial execution actions, which has already resulted in seizure and auction of properties, constant blocking of values ​​in his accounts bank accounts, including R$ 101,000 for his wife, including the recent impediment to license a car.

Ciro declared last year —when he ran for the Presidency and came in fourth place— a net worth of BRL 3 million, but the Justice has found it difficult to enforce the charges.

Mayor, governor, minister and four-time candidate for the Presidency, Ciro is the target or figure as the plaintiff in about a hundred criminal and civil actions related to moral damages, especially in Ceará and São Paulo.

The defense of the former presidential candidate claims that Ciro suffers from an unusual restriction on his right to express himself, that the punishments have amounts far above normal and that he does not have the resources and assets that can be seized to cover them.

He also says that his “clear financial difficulties” stem from his being an honest politician, who does not respond to a process of damage to the treasury and who lives on his salary.

As national vice-president of the PDT, Ciro receives a monthly salary of R$23,500.

On the list of those who entered the courts claiming to have been offended by the pedetista are former presidents of the Republic Fernando Collor de Mello, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro, as well as politicians such as José Serra (PSDB-SP), Eunício Oliveira ( MDB-CE), Damares Alves (Republicans-DF), Ricardo Salles (PL-SP), Eduardo Cunha (MDB-SP), João Doria (SP) and Valdemar Costa Neto (PL).

Against some of these, such as Ricardo Salles (called the “ex-minister of deforestation and smuggling”), Eduardo Cunha (“swindler”) and Doria (“swindler”), Ciro won victories, but the list of setbacks has piled up condemnations already in execution phase that, added and corrected, surpass the million mark.

Only in the Justice of São Paulo, there are 13 processes listed, 9 filed from 2018 until now.

One of them concerns his calling, in 2018, São Paulo councilor Fernando Holiday (Republicans) “the little captain of the bush”. Holiday entered the Special Civil Court, and Ciro ended up being ordered to pay him R$38,000.

The action for compliance with the sentence was processed for four years without payment, despite successive attempts to seize properties and search for balances in bank accounts. The situation only changed with the seizure on February 2 of this year of the house in Sobral that Ciro had inherited from his mother, Mazé.

A company, however, informed the court that it had bought the house two days earlier, on January 31, and presented proof of the transfer of R$561,000 to the account of Giselle Bezerra, Ciro’s wife.

In April, the court authorized the request of the councilor’s lawyer, Felipe Boarin L’Astorina, and blocked R$101,000 (updated amount due to Holiday) from Giselle’s account. L’Astorina stated that he will now file an enforcement action to pay the fees for succumbing (amounts owed by the losing party to the winning party’s lawyers).

“The most important thing was his conviction for the offense, which ended up serving as an example for us to have a more civilized debate on racism in Brazil, regardless of ideologies,” said Holiday.

According to this process, Ciro has two properties left that cannot be seized – one because it is his residence and the other because it is financed by Caixa.

Ciro also filed a lawsuit against Holiday, for being called a “coronelista”, but lost in all instances.

In another action for the collection of fees for succumbing, lawyer Regina Marilia Prado Manssur asked for BRL 47,000 in 2020. She was part of the defense of Collor (called “disgusting playboy” and “cocaine snort”), whose victory resulted in the judicial auction of an apartment by Ciro in 2021, worth BRL 520,000.

Manssur has still not received the values, after three years.

Last Thursday (18), she opposed the request of Ciro’s lawyers for the 2010 Toyota Hilux SW4 vehicle to pass from “licensing block” to “transfer block” —the argument is that Ciro is not able to pay DMV fees.

The pedetista also lost a lawsuit filed against Editora Abril for the publication of a report in 2018 and was sentenced to pay the lawyers’ fees.

“Despite the beginning of the execution having its origin in February 2018, more than 5 years ago, until now there has been no satisfaction of the pursued credit”, said in a note the Fidalgo Advogados office.

Ciro reached a friendly payment agreement in 2021, but ended up not complying. The updated debt, corrected and fined, is R$ 19,000.

Serra, called the candidate of “big deals and deals”, won lawsuits that currently amount to around R$800,000 in compensation, according to the lawsuits. About 10% has already been paid through blocking of Ciro’s bank accounts.

According to a report by the Justice of Ceará in September 2022, there were 71 cases in progress in which Ciro was the defendant. Of this total, 41 had as an active part Eunício Oliveira, who became a challenger in 2014, when he was called a “mixture of Pinocchio and machine gun brother”.

Eunício, who has also been sued by Ciro, whom he called a “decadent little colonel, lying and disingenuous”, has declared assets of R$ 158 million and said he bought the apartment auctioned in 2021 in the process filed by Collor.

Ciro has also suffered three convictions for moral damages in lawsuits against the former candidate for governor of Ceará, Captain Wagner (União Brasil). The actions, still in the appeal phase, add up to R$ 60 thousand, without correction.

During the riot of PMs in Ceará, in 2020, Ciro called the then federal deputy a “militiaman”.

OTHER SIDE: LAWYER SAYS THAT CIRO AND LIVES ONLY ON HIS SALARY

Appointed by Ciro’s advisory to speak out on the subject, lawyer Walber Agra claims that his client’s “clear financial difficulties” stem from “he being an honest politician, who does not respond to any process of damage to the treasury, and being a middle-class citizen”.

Agra, who is a professor at the Recife Faculty of Law and who is also a lawyer for the PDT, shares Ciro’s defense in the lawsuits with André Xerez’s office in Ceará.

“The non-payment is due exclusively to a lack of resources and seizable assets, given that he only receives a salary to support himself and his family,” added Walber.

The lawyer also criticized the convictions and the amount of fines imposed.

“What draws the most attention is that the restriction on Ciro Gomes’ right to freedom of expression is much broader than the other cases. Another thing that draws attention is the amount of fines, far above most of those established in jurisprudence.”

*With information from Folha de S.Paulo

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