Gonet builds team to work in the Mensalão and Lava Jato – 12/19/2023 – Power

The new Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet, chose to serve in his office names from the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) with a history of action in combating corruption involving politicians, especially in the Mensalão and Lava Jato cases.

The choices were announced by the PGR (Attorney General’s Office) a few hours after Lula’s (PT) participation in Gonet’s inauguration, when the president sent messages to the institution that at the time of Lava Jato carried out the accusations that led him to prison.

Lula criticized frivolous accusations, defended politicians and asked the chosen one not to allow accusations to be publicized before proving their veracity, in a demand to ensure that the Lava Jato model was not repeated.

Gonet stated in his inaugural speech that the time is now to “revive the institution’s high constitutional values” and that the body must be aware of the limits of its actions. He also stated that the Public Ministry is not looking for “a stage or a spotlight” and must act technically.

Attorney Alexandre Espinosa was appointed to serve as deputy electoral attorney general, a role held until a few days ago by Gonet himself.

Espinosa assisted former PGRs Antonio Fernando de Souza and Raquel Dodge in the investigations of both the Mensalão and Lava Jato, respectively. Both cases affected leaders of the PT and allied parties.

He also represented the MPF with the CPIs created to investigate the monthly allowance, a vote-buying scheme in Congress during Lula’s first term and which was judged by the STF (Supreme Federal Court) in 2012.

Another name on the team of the new head of the Prosecutor’s Office is Raquel Branquinho, also responsible for investigations of the monthly allowance and bribery involving Correios directors. She was chosen by Gonet for the position of general director of ESPMU (Higher School of the Public Ministry of the Union).

With Michel Temer (MDB) at Palácio do Planalto, Branquinho assisted Dodge in criminal matters before the STF. The then agent was the target of complaints on suspicion of involvement in a corruption scheme attributed by the MPF to the brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista, from the J&F conglomerate.

The Secretariat for International Cooperation will have Anamara Osório in charge. She was coordinator of the Lava Jato task force in São Paulo.

With a legal and academic career dedicated to constitutional law and fundamental rights, Gonet had been offering few clues about his opinions in the criminal area. The names selected by the new head of the MPF indicate that he wants to surround himself with professionals who have extensive experience in this area.

Wanted by Sheet, the PGR reported this Tuesday (19) that the new attorney general is evaluating how he intends to structure his office to handle criminal matters. It is up to the person holding the position to investigate and denounce politicians with jurisdiction in the STF, including the President of the Republic.

Gonet chose as deputy attorney general, the institution’s number 2, Hindemburgo Chateaubriand Filho. In 2019, dialogues in the Telegram application obtained by the website The Intercept Brasil and analyzed together with the Sheet showed that Chateaubriand, when he was inspector general of the MPF, informally criticized the conduct of then prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol in publishing a lecture on Lava Jato, highlighting the seriousness of the situation, but failed to open an official investigation into the case.

The previous management at the PGR, under the command of Augusto Aras, had a widely spread image of leniency towards the anti-democratic abuses of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and the former president’s erratic response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Aras delegated responsibility for the criminal area at the Supreme Court to colleagues and, under demands and criticism of omission, cited the functional independence of his appointees to say that the lack of investigations could not be blamed on him.

In addition to the investigations being carried out by the STF against politicians, there are also investigations related to the January 8 attacks, including authorities suspected of omission, such as former Justice Minister Anderson Torres.

As shown by Sheetthe PGR assesses that it has the elements to denounce Bolsonaro for inciting crime as a result of the coup attacks on the headquarters of the three Powers.

There was a lack of proof that Meta, owner of Facebook, said it no longer had available. It is a video produced by a third party — and published by Bolsonaro on his profile two days after the events — in which the author questioned the fairness of electronic voting machines. The former president deleted the content shortly afterwards. The Prosecutor’s Office stated this week that it recovered the material.

Coordinator of the group created by Aras to identify and hold those responsible for the invasion and depredation of the headquarters of the three Powers, Carlos Frederico Santos asked for his resignation. Gonet is now considering not delegating this function to a subordinate in order to concentrate these criminal proceedings in his office.

The investigations being carried out by the STF regarding January 8th are under the reporting of minister Alexandre de Moraes, one of the guarantors of Gonet’s name.

Last week, the two exchanged compliments in a session of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court). The new head of the MPF stated that the magistrate’s actions will serve as a guide for the management of the body he will lead for the next two years.

“If I have good experience to serve as a guide in the Attorney General’s Office, I received that experience from here, from the Electoral Court, especially from your excellency, minister-president [Moraes]”, stated Gonet in a TSE session.

In the administrative area, Gonet decided to keep Eliane Torelly at the head of the General Secretariat of the Union. She already performed the role in the Aras administration, which signals that the new leadership intends to continue internal management.

Criticized by his peers, including with public demonstrations, for abdicating his role in investigating the authorities, the former attorney general pleased internally by making room in the institution’s budget to pay additional payments owed to the category, including during the pandemic.

The Aras administration increased expenses with the payment of compensation amounts, as shown by Sheet. These are trinkets not subject to a constitutional ceiling.

It was almost three months between the end of Aras’ term, concluded at the end of September, and Gonet’s inauguration, at the beginning of the week. During the period, the PGR was led by Elizeta Ramos, who assumed the position as vice-president of the Superior Council of the MPF.