If confirmed by the STF, Dino will inherit action against Lula’s minister

If approved by the Senate in the hearing on December 13th to fill a vacancy in the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the current Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, will inherit actions that were in the office of former minister Rosa Weber and will be able to judge cases involving parliamentarians of Maranhão, his state, and high-ranking members of the PT government.

In total, Weber’s replacement will inherit 344 processes, including the investigation that targets the group linked to the Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho (União Brasil-MA).

The group is accused of bidding fraud, embezzlement of public resources and money laundering with funds from the São Francisco and Parnaíba Valley Development Company (Codevasf). Deputy Josimar Maranhãozinho (PL-MA) is also investigated in the case.

The investigation originated from Operation Benesse, of the Federal Police (PF), which points to the use of front contractors to defraud bids and divert resources from Construservice works benefiting from parliamentary amendments.

The PF said that one of the contractors involved, Arco, belongs to Minister Juscelino himself, even though he is not listed as a formal partner. The minister denies any connection with the company.

According to a PF investigation, when he held the position of deputy, Juscelino would have forwarded R$10 million in amendments to benefit his own farm in Maranhão, a state that was once governed by Flávio Dino.

The investigation investigating the case was under the report of the STF minister, Luís Roberto Barroso, and was passed on to the then minister Rosa Weber when Barroso assumed the presidency of the House, at the end of September.

With the minister’s retirement, the next member of the Supreme Court will inherit the rapporteurship of the process.

In addition to this inquiry, the new minister will also receive a report on an action by the controversial Covid-19 CPI against former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and the Allegation of Failure to Comply with Fundamental Precepts (ADPF) 1087, in which the Liberal Party ( PL) asks that the penalty for abortions caused by third parties be equated to the punishment for the crime of qualified homicide.