Ex-PRF goes to STF against breach of secrecy; Barroso cites CPI – 07/15/2023 – Power

The defense of Silvinei Vasques, former director of the PRF (Federal Highway Police) in the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, called the STF (Federal Supreme Court) against the breach of his banking, tax, telephone and telematic secrecy approved by the CPI of the 8 of January.

The request (writ of mandamus) was distributed to Minister Kassio Nunes Marques, appointed to the STF by Bolsonaro. But, with the recess, the acting president and responsible for the judicial duty, Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, dispatched the case “due to the exceptionality of the appreciation of urgent measures”.

In a determination made on Friday (14th), Barroso requested that the CPI leadership provide information on the matter within a period of 48 hours.

Silvinei’s defense alleges that the contested acts violate his image and privacy rights, and that no evidence or evidence was presented to link him to the coup attacks that culminated in vandalism to the headquarters of the three Powers.

It says that the former director of the PRF gave testimony as a witness, that he did not file a habeas corpus with the aim of guaranteeing the right to silence and that he collaborated with the commission, answering all the questions. The hearing lasted about 12 hours.

“There is no reason to breach the plaintiff’s privacy [Silvinei Vasques]behold, they requested the breach of secrecy without —by means of a vote— having the petitioner (witness) change his condition to that of investigated”, said the road police officer’s defense.

She claims that congressmen “cannot usurp the power of the CPMI” and, without a vote, turn a witness into an accused. “There was no notification from the petitioner in this regard, the situation being considered the result of an accident and lack of professionalism.”

The defense also said that the “excessive attention” of the members of the CPI with Silvinei caused “strangeness” on the grounds that there are no elements that link him to the “serious occurrence of vandalism in the headquarters of the three Powers of the Republic, behold, on that date he was retired and residing in the quiet municipality of São José (SC)”.

Silvinei was summoned to testify because of inspections on federal highways in the second round of elections. The suspicion is that, under his command, the PRF tried to make it difficult for Lula (PT) voters to get to the polls.

Members of the government base in the CPI understand that a possible misuse of purpose in the performance of road agents in the second round of the elections is inserted in the context of the attempted coup attributed to Bolsonaro and his allies.

The former director stated to the CPI that the corporation is the target of the “greatest injustice” in history and denied that it has acted to harm voters of the current president.

Silvinei is the target of investigations by different agencies, including the Federal Police. The Federal Public Ministry asked for his conviction for administrative impropriety and for violating the principles of public administration. The Federal Court in Rio de Janeiro accepted the lawsuit filed by the Attorney General’s Office.

The police officer’s defense highlighted in the request to the Supreme Court that the information provided by him during the hearing at the CPI was reinforced by a set of documents presented to the presidency of the CPI, within the period granted for such an act by the commission.