Judge Eduardo Appio is silent and will have to return the cell phone – 05/23/2023 – Power

Federal judge Eduardo Appio, who took over the remaining cases of Operation Lava Jato in the 13th Court of Curitiba at the beginning of the year, said that he has been on vacation since the 20th and that he prefers not to comment at this time on the decision of the TRF4 (Regional Court Federal Court of the 4th Region) which preventively removed him from his functions in the Federal Court.

The press office of the Federal Justice of Paraná forwarded a document in which it appears that Appio had vacations scheduled for the period between May 20th and June 8th. Sought by the report, he informed that the holidays had already been scheduled since February.

On Monday (22), the members of the court’s administrative court decided to immediately suspend the judge’s access to the Federal Justice facilities and systems, such as the internal corporate network. The first degree magistrate must also return a functional desktop, notebook and cell phone used by him.

The court gave a period of 15 days for him to present a prior defense. From there, the administrative court can institute administrative disciplinary proceedings. The case was also forwarded to the National Judiciary Department of the CNJ (National Council of Justice).

For the time being, the federal judge Gabriela Hardt will be in charge of the processes of the 13th Court.

The decision to remove Appio was taken within a disciplinary procedure opened by the regional inspector of the Federal Justice of the 4th Region, Cândido Alfredo Silva Leal Júnior, based on the report of the federal judge Marcelo Malucelli.

The second-degree judge reported that, on April 13, his son, lawyer João Eduardo Barreto Malucelli, had received a telephone call that he understood to be capable of “evidence of threats”.

The judge’s son left the call on “live voice” and recorded the contact on video.

The material is in the hands of the Federal Police, which has already informed TRF4 that the expert report “strongly supports the hypothesis” that the voice in the video is Judge Appio’s.

The telephone call seemed suspicious, among other reasons, because it was made with a blocked number (without identification of the caller ID) and the caller identified himself as a servant of the health area of ​​the Federal Justice called “Fernando Gonçalves Pinheiro”.

There is no official with that name, as TRF4 later verified.

In the call, the caller mentioned having consulted data from the federal judge’s income tax, saying that they had “extracts here from the income tax referring to the children, it’s a thing of the past, it’s a residue of the past, that he has a credit that can deduct from the income tax, it can be computed in favor”.

The lawyer did not understand exactly what the caller was talking about and said that he should contact the federal judge, his father, directly. “Then I’ll call, say that I spoke with you, and that you authorized me to call him, bother him in court”, says the caller.

Shortly before abruptly hanging up, the interlocutor still asks the lawyer: “And are you sure you haven’t been up to anything?”.

The National Judiciary Department of the CNJ informed this Tuesday morning (23) to the Sheet which has not yet been officially communicated about Appio’s removal.

The Federal Police informed the report that “it does not manifest itself on any ongoing investigations”.

CONFLICTING DECISIONS

Appio and Malucelli signed conflicting court rulings that April regarding attorney and Lava Jato defendant Rodrigo Tacla Duran.

On April 11, at the request of the MPF (Federal Public Ministry), Malucelli overturned a decision by Judge Appio, dated April 4, which allowed Tacla Duran to return to Brazil with a safe-conduct to have face-to-face access to evidence that is under custody of the 13th Federal Court and also to participate in a hearing to discuss the conditions of his provisional release.

The lawyer has lived in Spain since 2016 and in March he obtained provisional release, signed by Judge Appio.

Then, on April 17, the national justice inspector, Luis Felipe Salomão, ordered the filing of a request for measures to investigate Malucelli’s conduct.

Salomão wanted to understand if the recent decision of the second instance magistrate involving Tacla Duran collided with the understanding of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) that suspended the criminal actions against the defendant.

When opening the procedure, Salomão also questioned Malucelli’s relationship with Senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR) and mentioned the judge’s possible suspicion.

Tacla Duran has maintained that people close to Moro tried to extort him to obtain a more advantageous whistleblower agreement, which the senator denies.

The son of the federal judge, lawyer João Eduardo Barreto Malucelli, is a partner of senator and federal deputy Rosangela Wolff Moro (União Brasil-SP) at the law firm Wolff Moro Sociedade de Advocacia. In addition, João Eduardo would be the boyfriend of the daughter of the couple of parliamentarians.

Lawyer João Eduardo also has a commissioned position in the Legislative Assembly of Paraná, in the office of state deputy Luiz Fernando Guerra Filho (União Brasil) – who is the brother of businessman Ricardo Augusto Guerra (União Brasil), Moro’s second alternate in the Senate.

On April 20, Malucelli decides to step away from Lava Jato cases. He cited, without giving details, circumstances that “are related to the physical and moral integrity of members of my family”, and declared his suspicion “due to intimate reasons”.