Lava Jato judicial defeats expand to politics – 05/28/2023 – Power

The decision by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) to revoke Deltan Dallagnol’s (Podemos-PR) deputy mandate is one more chapter in the series of defeats imposed on Lava Jato in recent years.

The operation, which initially had broad support from the STF (Federal Supreme Court) and public opinion, accumulated several setbacks, both judicial and political, from 2018, when the then judge Sergio Moro left the judiciary and accepted to become minister of the Jair government. Bolsonaro.

In the legal field, a series of Supreme Court decisions determined the review of Lava Jato methods, which led to the annulment of investigations that were central to the success of the investigations.

One of the first to impose an extensive defeat on Lava Jato, which at the time had extended its ramifications to several states, was to define in March 2019 that crimes such as corruption and money laundering, when investigated together with slush funds, should be prosecuted. in the Electoral Justice, and not in the Federal.

The decision dehydrated the main award-winning collaborations closed by Lava Jato, especially that of Odebrecht, which was called “denunciation of the end of the world”.

The slowness in sending criminal actions and investigations to the Electoral Justice, associated with the body’s lack of structure for judging complex cases, benefited politicians who were the target of operations due to suspected irregularities involving common and electoral crimes.

Still in 2019, the Supreme decided that a person can only start serving a sentence after the process becomes final (when there are no more appeals, and the action is finalized). Since 2016, the court considered that a convict could be arrested —except in cases of precautionary arrest— after a second instance decision.

This decision led today’s president Lula (PT), at the time without a mandate, to freedom. He was released after 580 days in prison at the headquarters of the Superintendence of the Federal Police of Paraná, in Curitiba. In a speech minutes after leaving, the PT gave a strong attack on Lava Jato and sectors of the Judiciary.

After the defeats in the courts and the departure of Moro, Deltan, who coordinated investigations at the MPF (Federal Public Ministry), left his position to take a risk in politics.

In the new field of action, already as Minister of Justice, Moro saw the package he prepared to toughen criminal laws be emptied by Congress with the support of the Bolsonaro government itself.

In the end, he suffered another setback when he came into conflict with Bolsonaro and was forced to resign from the ministry in April 2020, less than a year and a half after assuming the post.

Afterwards, he tried to make a cool career out of Bolsonaro, increased the tone of criticism of the former president, but was unsuccessful in the strategy.

So he decided to back off. He withdrew from the race for president in 2022 and ended up running for a Senate seat in Paraná in a mild tone in relation to Bolsonaro in the first round. He was elected and, in the second round, announced open support for the former boss.

At the same time, Bolsonaro decided to appoint a PGR (Attorney General of the Republic) who was a fierce critic of Lava Jato and who buried the model that made the operation successful.

First, Augusto Aras interfered with the Lava Jato task force in São Paulo in 2020 that blocked the possibility for prosecutors to continue the ongoing investigations.

Then, in 2021, the task forces in Paraná, which originated Lava Jato, and in Rio de Janeiro were closed.

In the same year, Lava Jato do Paraná suffered one of its biggest defeats: the STF concluded that former judge Moro was partial in the Guarujá (SP) triplex trial, which led Lula to prison on charges of corruption and money laundering.

The process was cancelled. Months later, the plenary confirmed the decision, which paved the way for the annulment of the other processes.

Deltan left the MPF to run for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies. At first, he was successful and elected as the most voted deputy in Paraná. Less than a semester after taking office, he was impeached by the TSE.

The electoral court adopted an expansive interpretation and understood that Deltan defrauded the law because he would have asked for dismissal from the Attorney General’s Office in order to escape the scenario in which one of the 15 complaints against him could become an administrative disciplinary procedure.

The Lei da Ficha Limpa determines that members of the MP and the Judiciary who leave their careers with cases of this nature pending are ineligible.

The Chamber has not yet confirmed the TSE’s decision, but case law provides that the House has no alternative but to accept the court’s determination.

With Deltan Dallagnol suspended, the focus turns to Moro. Behind the scenes, he says he believes he can become the new target of the Judiciary leadership.

The two exponents of Lava Jato entered politics on the grounds that, due to the dismantling of the operation, it was necessary to pass laws that tightened the mechanisms for combating corruption.

However, in addition to the impeachment of the former prosecutor, it is unlikely that Moro will have the strength to approve his proposals in the Senate.

Among the flags of the former judge, there are proposals to toughen the punishment of those who plan attacks on authorities and even the return of the prison of convicts in second instance. On the voting agenda in Congress, the themes encounter resistance, and the discussion is not considered a priority.

The senator has also been involved in an argument with critics of Lava Jato in Brasilia. Three weeks ago, in a Senate committee session, Flávio Dino, Minister of Justice, responded to a question by stating that, when he was a magistrate, he never colluded or had “a sentence annulled”.

REMEMBER LAVA JATO DEFEATS

Impeachment of Deltan Dallagnol
The former coordinator of Lava Jato in Paraná is removed from his mandate as a federal deputy by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) for having left his career as a prosecutor to enter politics. The court understood that he had the purpose of circumventing the ineligibility caused by any disciplinary administrative procedures that he could answer.

Suspension of former Lava Jato coordinator in Rio
The National Council of the Public Ministry suspended for 30 days, at the end of 2022, the prosecutor Eduardo El Hage, who coordinated the Lava Jato task force in Rio. For the council, there was a breach of functional secrecy by news published on the MPF portal about a complaint offered against former senator Romero Jucá (MDB).

End of task forces
Under Augusto Aras, the Attorney General’s Office ended the Lava Jato task forces, a model that made the operation possible. The São Paulo task force ended in September 2020. The original task force, in Paraná, ceased to exist in February 2021. The one in Rio de Janeiro ended in March of the same year.

STF declares Moro partiality
In the same month, the Second Panel of the Supreme concluded for Sergio Moro’s partiality in conducting the triplex process of Guarujá (SP), which led to the annulment of the process. Months later, the plenary confirmed the decision, which paved the way for the annulment of the other processes.

Fachin annuls Lula’s convictions
In March 2021, STF Minister Edson Fachin annulled all convictions handed down against former President Lula by the 13th Federal Court of Federal Justice in Curitiba. At the time, Fachin understood that the decisions could not have been taken by the court and determined that the cases be restarted by the Federal Court of the Federal District.

End of prison after conviction in 2nd instance
By 6 votes to 5, in 2019, the STF decided that a person can only start serving a sentence after the process becomes final (when there are no more appeals, and the action is finalized).

Messages from Lava Jato
The series of reports on The Intercept Brasil website and other vehicles, such as Folha, in 2019, showed proximity between Sergio Moro and prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol in investigation measures, which aroused criticism from Supreme ministers and even politicians who used to defend the operation.

anti-corruption fund
Also in 2019, Minister Alexandre de Moraes suspended, at the request of the Attorney General’s Office, the agreement that provided for the creation of a foundation with part of the R$ 2.5 billion recovered from Petrobras, paid thanks to an agreement between the state-owned company and the government. American.

Election crime and common crime
The STF decided in March 2019 that common crimes, such as corruption and money laundering, when associated with electoral crimes, such as slush funds, must be judged by the Electoral Justice. This led several Lava Jato processes and investigations to the Electoral Justice, considered ineffective for the judgment of complex cases such as those of the operation.