The Minister of Integration and Regional Development, Waldez Góes.| Photo: Antonio Cruz/Agência Brasil.

The First Panel of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) accepted this Tuesday (6) a habeas corpus and acquitted the Minister of Integration and Regional Development, Waldez Góes (PDT), for the alleged crime of embezzlement. The decision was made by majority vote. The trial began two years ago and at the beginning the rapporteur, Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, had voted against the defense’s request.

At the time, he was accompanied by then Minister Marco Aurélio Mello. However, in the resumption of this Tuesday’s trial, Barroso changed his vote and followed the understanding of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, reported the newspaper O Globo. Minister Luiz Fux also accompanied Moraes. With that, the score was 3-1.

In 2019, the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) sentenced Góes, when he was governor of Amapá, to six years and nine months in prison, for the crime of embezzlement. Góes was accused of allegedly embezzling payroll loan amounts from state employees, between 2009 and 2010, during his first term in state government.