Former mayor of Rio de Janeiro and federal deputy Marcelo Crivella (Republicans).| Photo: Tânia Rêgo/Agência Brasil

Federal deputy Marcelo Crivella (Republicanos-RJ) is at risk of losing his mandate, after being convicted by the Electoral Court, in the first instance, for abuse of economic power during the electoral dispute for the mayor of Rio de Janeiro in 2020.

The sentence, released this Friday (24), is by Judge Márcia Santos Capanema de Souza, from the 23rd Electoral Zone of Rio de Janeiro. She considered that Crivella, who was running for re-election that year, could not have sent bills to the Chamber of Councilors that granted tax and fiscal “benefits” to the local population, such as discounts on IPTU, in the midst of the election campaign. Crivella lost the election to Eduardo Paes (PSD), the current mayor of Rio.

In addition to fining Crivella R$ 150,000, the judge asked for the impeachment of the federal deputy mandate, a position for which he was elected last year. For this to happen, the sentence needs to be confirmed by the Regional Electoral Court of Rio de Janeiro.

To the g1 portal, Crivella’s defense said he is contesting the judge’s decision and claims that the former mayor had legal authorization to send the projects because of the Covid-19 pandemic.