Lava Jato: Judges deny appeal over settlement funds – 04/15/2024 – Power

The TRF-4 (Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region) denied an appeal by Petrobras that attempted to review the destination of part of the money from collaboration and leniency agreements signed in the wake of Operation Lava Jato.

The decision, by the 8th Panel of the court, was taken during a session on March 20, two years after the oil company filed the request. Judges Carlos Eduardo Thompson Flores Lenz and Loraci Flores de Lima voted in the case, who were temporarily removed from office this Monday (15) by decision of the national inspector of justice, Luís Felipe Salomão.

Rodrigo Kravetz, who is not the target of the inspectorate, also voted against Petrobras’ appeal in TRF-4.

The delay in judging this case by the 8th Panel, responsible for analyzing the Lava Jato cases in the second instance, was one of the reasons that justified the opening of a disciplinary complaint with the CNJ (National Council of Justice), last September, against the judges who worked on the TRF-4 board that month: Thompson Flores, Flores de Lima and also Danilo Pereira Júnior, who in January became the head judge of the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba.

In the magistrate’s decision this Monday, the delay in analyzing Petrobras’ appeal was not mentioned.

The judgment on Petrobras in the TRF-4 involves the allocation of R$118 million, a topic discussed since 2016 in a representation that deals with the amounts deposited in accounts linked to the 13th Federal Court in the various collaboration or leniency agreements for the operation. The Federal Court was commanded by former judge Sergio Moro until 2018.

In a 2022 order, the then judge of the 13th Federal Court, Luiz Antonio Bonat maintained the division of resources suggested by the Federal Public Ministry, contradicting Petrobras.

In the division of R$118 million, Petrobras, which received R$25 million, disputes two points: the transfer of R$29 million to Funpen (National Penitentiary Fund) and also R$14 million to the National Treasury Single Account. For the oil company, all of the amounts arising from the agreements must be used to compensate victims, such as the state-owned company itself.

Of the total of R$ 118 million, R$ 672 thousand was also defined for the Petros fund and another R$ 48 million ended up reserved for victims who have not yet been identified or have no information about what amount is owed.

Disagreeing with the division of part of the money, Petrobras filed an appeal with the TRF-4 in 2022, which was only analyzed last month.

When opening the disciplinary complaint against the collegiate judges due to the delay, Salomão noted, in September: “There is a need to investigate, at the administrative level, whether the interruption in the conduct of the indicated process, which has a relevant connection with the entire allocation system of values ​​and assets from the operation called Lava Jato, may reveal actions that taint the provisions of the Constitution”.

He stated, at the time, that the case had been pending judgment for a year and five months and had been reviewed by three magistrates without definitive analysis.

Last month, the rapporteur of the appeal at TRF-4, Loraci Flores de Lima, said that he received the case in April 2023 and that he had not yet put it to trial because it was initially understood that it was necessary to wait for the analysis of the merits of an ADPF (Argument of Non-compliance with Fundamental Precepts) reported by the minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) Alexandre de Moraes.

The ADPF was proposed at the beginning of 2019 by PT and PDT. The acronyms pointed out that the Public Ministry exceeded its legal duties by previously defining a destination for the money from the agreements. This action has not yet been taken to the STF plenary for deliberation.

In TRF-4, Flores de Lima understood that the 2013 law that provides for award-winning collaboration “does not provide any specific provision regarding the destination of the amounts recovered under the pacts”.

“The appealed decision, by determining the allocation of amounts to Funpen, as a criminal fine, and to the National Treasury Single Account, as forfeiture, complied with what was freely agreed upon by the parties, respecting the legal provisions in force”, he said.

The rapporteur also reinforced that the agreements signed also guaranteed compensation to Petrobras.

Petrobras filed an embargo against the decision earlier this month.

Last year, a partial report presented in September by Salomão identified “a chaotic management in the control of amounts arising from collaboration and leniency agreements” that were signed with the Federal Public Ministry and approved by the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba.

The final report of this inspection, with the conclusion of the analysis, is also on the CNJ agenda this Tuesday (16). Within the scope of TRF-4, the correction involves the offices of judges Thompson Flores, Loraci Flores de Lima and Marcelo Malucelli.

The removal of Thompson Flores, Flores de Lima and Danilo Pereira Júnior will be analyzed by the CNJ this Tuesday, as will the case of judge Gabriela Hardt, who worked in the first instance at the Federal Court of Curitiba.