Lava Jato: TRF confirms new judge and departure of Eduardo Appio – 11/27/2023 – Power

The Board of Directors of TRF-4 (Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region) approved this Monday (27) the transfer of judge Danilo Pereira Júnior to the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba, responsible for the remaining processes of Operation Lava Jato in Paraná. The decision, which has yet to be published, was unanimous.

The current holder of the Lava Jato Court, Eduardo Appio, who was away, will take over the 18th Federal Court of Curitiba.

The choice of Pereira Júnior among those registered to assume ownership of the court that was occupied by Sergio Moro until the end of 2018 followed the criterion of seniority. He entered the Federal Court through a public examination in 1996.

Pereira Júnior was an assistant judge in the office of Minister Gilmar Mendes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), at the time of the Mensalão trial in court. This relationship ended in 2014.

The judge is head of the 12th Federal Court, but has already replaced members of the TRF-4 in some situations, during magistrates’ vacations, for example, and worked on the analysis of resources linked to Lava Jato. In January 2019, for example, he denied a new interrogation of now President Lula, requested by the PT’s defense.

In the 12th Federal Court, it was also Pereira Júnior who signed Lula’s release, in November 2019, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision that barred the arrest of convicts who still had appeals pending in the Judiciary. At the time, Pereira Júnior was responsible for managing prisons and possible benefits, including those for Lava Jato convicts.

The fact that the judge had already acted in Lava Jato in the second instance caught the attention of defendants’ lawyers, since article 252 of the Code of Criminal Procedure prohibits the exercise of jurisdiction by the magistrate in proceedings in which he “has served as a judge of another instance, pronouncing itself, in fact or in law, on the issue”.

Recently, Pereira Júnior also participated in the trial of the 8th Panel of the TRF-4 that declared judge Eduardo Appio suspicious.

On September 6, he and his colleagues Loraci Flores de Lima and Carlos Eduardo Thompson Flores Lenz accepted a request from the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) to recognize Appio’s suspicion in all processes arising from Lava Jato and declare the nullity of all acts practiced by him in the processes.

The MPF sought to show Appio’s support for PT members, pointing out, for example, that, until the beginning of the year, the judge used the login “LUL22” to access the Federal Court’s electronic system.

Days later, the decision of the three magistrates was annulled by Minister Dias Toffoli, of the STF.

Eduardo Appio took over the Lava Jato Court in February, but had been temporarily removed from the post since May, as a result of a disciplinary process opened against him at the TRF-4 Internal Affairs Department.

Last month, he made an agreement to permanently leave the Lava Jato Court. In return, the disciplinary process must not generate any punishment. According to the agreement, Appio should request removal to the 18th Federal Court, which focuses on the social security area. The removal was unanimously approved this Monday.

In addition to Pereira Júnior, two other magistrates signed up for the removal contest, placing the 13th Federal Court as the first option. Judge Fábio Nunes de Martino, who currently works temporarily in the 13th Federal Court, but who originally belongs to the 1st Federal Court of Ponta Grossa, and also Diego Viegas Véras, from the 4th Federal Court of Cascavel.

Nunes de Martino, in his interim period, signed a sentence on the 17th sentencing former Petrobras director Renato Duque to seven years in prison, in a case reminiscent of Lava Jato.