Justice acquits Cunha and Temer in the MDB case – 07/03/2023 – Mônica Bergamo

The Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region upheld the decision to acquit former president Michel Temer, former mayor Eduardo Cunha, former minister Geddel Vieira Lima, businessman José Yunes and eight other names accused of being part of the “quadrillion of the MDB”.

The complaint, made by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), accused them of being part of a criminal organization that collected bribes through public bodies such as Petrobras and Caixa Econômica Federal, in addition to the Chamber of Deputies and federal government ministries.

The Third Panel of the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region confirmed, in a second instance decision this Tuesday (7), the summary acquittal of those involved and denied an appeal presented by the MPF. They had been cleared in the first instance. The decision can be appealed.

This Tuesday’s decision was reported by Judge Ney Bello and was endorsed by Judges Maria do Carmo and Wilson Alves de Souza.

The acquittal of the “MDB gang” was celebrated by Cunha’s defense, who classified the MPF’s complaint as “absurd”.

“The confirmation of the acquittal solidifies the correct decision of the first degree judge against the absurd attempt of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office to characterize as a criminal organization the political party of which the deputy was a member”, say the lawyers Aury Lopes Jr. and Délio Lins e Silva.

Also acquitted were former deputies Henrique Eduardo Lyra Alves and Rodrigo Rocha Loures, former ministers Eliseu Padilha and Wellington Moreira Franco, Colonel João Baptista Lima Filho, former money changer Lúcio Funaro and the alleged operators of bribes for Eduardo Cunha Altair Alves Pinto and Sidney Norberto Szabo.

In the first instance decision, Judge Marcus Vinicius Reis Bastos stated that the narrative presented by the MPF does not allow concluding the existence of an association with division of tasks, hierarchy and stability —as would be typical of a criminal organization.

“The complaint presented, in fact, reflects an attempt to criminalize political activity. It adopts a certain assumption —that of the existence of a ‘criminal organization’ that lasted from ‘mid-2006 to the present day’—presenting it as being the ‘truth of facts’, not even bothering to point out the essential elements to the characterization of the crime of criminal organization”, said Reis Bastos.

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