In the first decision, Zanin frees accused of embezzlement from punishment

Minister Cristiano Zanin, recently sworn in at the Federal Supreme Court (STF), extinguished the punishment of a delegate and a lawyer accused of embezzlement in Rio Grande do Norte. This is the first decision signed by the new minister on the Court.

In the action taken to the STF, they asked to overturn appeals presented by the Public Ministry against a decision of the state Court of Justice that had already locked a criminal action against both.

This is because the alleged victim declared in the process that he has no interest in confirming the complaint against them. Zanin noted that since 2019, the law has required that accusations of embezzlement must come from the victim. Afterwards, the STF understood that this would apply even in previous cases, in which the complaint was only made by the MP, in which case the victim would have to be consulted again. In the present case, the alleged victim withdrew.

Therefore, Zanin extinguished the punishment of the two and maintained the decision that had filed the case. The Public Prosecutor’s Office was still trying to appeal this decision to the STJ and the STF itself, which is why the accused filed a lawsuit with the Court.

“In the case under examination, the Court of Justice of the State of Rio Grande do Norte – TJRN, in line with the understanding established by the Second Panel of the STF, extinguished the punishment of the accused, stating that, ‘maintaining this line of reasoning, I have the obligation to adapt the judgment and, consequently, prevent the continuation of the prosecution, especially in the face of the victim’s express waiver of the exercise of representation, that is, by means of a valid document, the victim’s express waiver of the exercise of representation, that is, by means of a document valid,” wrote Zanin.

The case became known in 2015, when the delegate and the lawyer were arrested in Operation Prata da Morte. At the time, the Civil Police dismantled a fraud scheme at the Rio Grande do Norte State Servers Pension Institute (Ipern) that would have embezzled BRL 600,000, to the detriment of the state.

According to the investigations, the accused would have offered the family of a former tax auditor a way of defrauding documents in order to receive a pension for death. The woman was investigated for allegedly falsifying the papers. At the time, the two denied the allegations.

The crime of embezzlement consists of obtaining, for oneself or for others, an illicit advantage, to the detriment of others, inducing or keeping someone in error, through artifice, ruse, or any other fraudulent means. The penalty is from one to five years in prison.