Gilmar Mendes denies request to return almost R$10 million to drug trafficker

Federal Supreme Court (STF) minister Gilmar Mendes denied restitution of around US$2 million to a man sentenced to more than 100 years in prison for international drug trafficking. The amount, equivalent to almost R$10 million, was seized by the Federal Highway Police (PRF) ten years ago.

Last week, Ricardo Cosme Silva dos Santos’ defense asked the STF to return the amount, claiming that he needs the money to pay for medical treatment. In the decision this Wednesday (6), Gilmar Mendes ordered the “immediate archiving” of the application.

He considered that the defense “did not present any document that clarified important points for any decision-making”. The minister highlighted that, even if the trafficker “had been exemplarily instructed, the case would have been dismissed”.

The rapporteur pointed out that the refund request should have been sent “initially to the magistrate who ordered the blocking or, at the very least, to the immediately higher court, and not directly to the Federal Supreme Court.”

For the judge, “accepting the request based on such a simplistic basis would mean, in practice, making any weakening of the economic power of criminal agents conditional on proof of full physical strength of the person being investigated and the existence of a final and unappealable conviction.”

In addition to the return of the seized US$2 million, with monetary correction, the defense requested the release of the blocked accounts and the request to be processed in secrecy. All requests were denied by the minister.

“Therefore, either due to the absence of essential information for any decision-making in these files, or due to the patent suppression of the instance that is intended to be implemented, I reject the request and order the immediate archiving of the files. Finally, I see no reason why this procedure should be carried out confidentially”, wrote Mendes.

Santos was sentenced to a total sentence of 106 years, 6 months and 20 days in prison for international drug trafficking, association for drug trafficking and currency evasion. He is imprisoned in Mato Grosso. In December last year, he underwent surgery due to an intestinal injury caused by a toothpick, which he swallowed while in prison, as well as appendicitis.