Mensalão da toga in Federal Court may end unpunished – 03/27/2023 – Frederico Vasconcelos

Federal judges Roberto Veloso, from Maranhão, and Solange Salgado, from the Federal District, are among the 13 names chosen by the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF-1) to expand the composition of that court, based in Brasília.

On the last day 22, Solange was elected judge (TRF-1 judge), by seniority criterion. She received 23 out of 24 votes. Veloso is among the nine judges elected by merit. Seven will be chosen by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

In 2010, Veloso succeeded Solange as president of Ajufer (Association of Federal Judges of the 1st Region). By determination of the then national corregedora, Eliana Calmon, Veloso appointed an internal audit of magistrates that investigated Solange and six other former presidents.

They received R$ 6 million in 45 loans, through simulated contracts with the Army Housing Foundation (FHE/Poupex). They owed R$ 1.7 million to the foundation.

For ten years, Ajufer used registration data from judges who were unaware of the plot. Raised money from the foundation on behalf of ghosts. Part of the resources was deposited in orange accounts, or withdrawn from the cash register and transferred to money changers and moneylenders.

Deposits were made on behalf of construction companies, a car dealership and, it is suspected, to a gold and jewelery dealer.

The case was revealed by Sheetin November 2010, in a report by the editor of this blog.

pizza smell

In April 2011, a group of 40 prejudiced judges asked, in a letter to the TRF-1 internal affairs department, a “speedy investigation”. They claimed that their names were used “irresponsibly, recklessly and fraudulently”. They feared that the so-called “mensalão da toga” would end in pizza.

Corregidor of the TRF-1 at the time, the judge Cândido Ribeiro [alvo de recente operação da Polícia Federal, suspeito de vender sentenças] requested the opening of a Disciplinary Administrative Proceeding.

Ribeiro stated in a report that former presidents Moacir Ferreira Ramos, Solange Salgado, Charles Renaud and Hamilton Dantas, “all of them signed, as directors of Ajufer, fraudulent contracts”.

The financial pyramid was discovered in 2009 by an FHE audit. The foundation claimed a loss of more than R$ 20 million, in values ​​at the time.

Also on the TRF-1 merit promotion list are two other judges who presided over Ajufer after Solange’s tenure: Newton Pereira Ramos Neto and Candice Lavocat Galvão Jobim.

Candice was Social and Benefits Director at Ajufer during Veloso’s management (2010/2012); Veloso was responsible for Ajufer’s financial and equity area during Candice’s management (2012/2014).

In his inauguration speech, Veloso said that “Ajufer will not spend a single penny to pay for embezzled money”. He confirmed that the resources transited through a cashier.

In 2014, by nine votes to one, the Federal Justice Council decided not to institute administrative disciplinary proceedings to investigate the conduct of Judge Antônio de Souza Prudente, first president of Ajufer. Prudente rolled over loans and accumulated debts in the association.

The vote-view of the then councilor Herman Benjamin prevailed. He understood that Prudente “was financially disorganized”. He concluded that Prudente was not aware of the frauds, and that “he never contracted directly with the FHE”.

The rapporteur, Minister Humberto Martins, was the only one who disagreed. He understood that the defense did not rule out the evidence that Prudente “benefited from third-party resources to amortize installments or settle contracts signed by Ajufer in his favor”. He said that Prudente “never made his tax secrecy available”.

STJ Minister Raul Araújo ordered the shelving of a confidential inquiry to investigate Prudente’s conduct.

mild measures

In 2013, when judging the Administrative Disciplinary Process, the TRF-1 compulsorily retired Moacir Ramos. The judge questioned: “There are irregularities. They are being investigated. Now, everyone wants to get out. How could another director sign the contract with me and say he didn’t know?”

The court applied censorship to Hamilton Sá Dantas and Solange Salgado, and a warning to Moraes.

Seven votes were cast for Solange’s compulsory retirement; three for the penalty of availability; five votes for the censure penalty and one vote for the warning penalty.

The Federal Public Ministry submitted a request for revision to the National Council of Justice. He claimed that the TRF-1 decision contradicted the evidence in the file and that the penalties would have been disproportionate to the seriousness of the facts.

The MPF understood that, if there had been a specific vote on each of the sentences applied to Solange, the qualified quorum (10 votes) would have been reached for the availability sentence.

The CNJ upheld the court’s decision.

Dissatisfied, the MPF filed a complaint against Solange Salgado and Charles Renaud, accused of fraudulently managing a financial institution.

In 2018, given the slowness of the Judiciary, the board of Ajufer joined the prosecution in two criminal cases filed against former presidents of the entity itself.

“Seven years after the discovery of that decade of fraud, the facts have not yet been sufficiently clarified and those responsible remain unpunished”, said judge Leonardo Paupério, then president of Ajufer.

“We are dealing with the biggest scandal in the history of the Federal Court,” he said.

Last February, the TRF-1 acquitted Solange. The court did not reveal the outcome of the trial, despite the relevance and public interest in the case. The TRF-1 press office informed that the process “is under secrecy, and it is not possible to provide the information”.

The blog was unable to contact the magistrate.

Accusations against Solange

Upon receiving documents from Ajufer provided by judges Moacir Ramos and Eduardo Cubas (who asked for the verification of the facts), Eliana Calmon said that “it caused a lot of perplexity to find checkbooks already signed” by Solange.

She was accused of signing checks from Ajufer, totaling R$ 419,600, in favor of two nephews. Transfers of resources from Ajufer signed by Solange and Moacir Ramos for their own benefit were identified.

In 2010, Moacir Ramos and Solange signed a private instrument of promise for the purchase and sale of a room in the Business Point building, in Brasília, for R$ 115 thousand. The buyer is a lawyer, with a business address in the same building.

Days later, Ramos and Solange authorized three transfers, totaling R$130,000, to the Army foundation. Document signed by directors of the foundation assigns Ramos the orientation to amortize R$ 40 thousand of Solange’s debt; R$40,000 of Charles Renaud’s debt; R$ 50 thousand would reduce Ramos’ debt.

The sale of the property without assembly authorization was carried out when the foundation had already suspended the loans to Ajufer.

In a virtual assembly, 79 judges authorized Ajufer’s board, then chaired by Roberto Veloso, to annul the operation and offer a criminal notice to the MPF against the previous management, on the grounds that there was “illicit allocation of resources”.

The return of the property to Ajufer’s equity was obtained under the management of Candice Lavocat Galvão.

Solange’s defense

Throughout the investigations, Solange Salgado said that her name may have been used in fictitious contracts.

He told the magistrate Cândido Ribeiro that he “signed blank checks, trusting judge Moacir Ramos”. He said he was “also one of the injured associates”.

He said that the alleged use of money from the sale of the room to reduce debts was an attempt to link it to a fraudulent scheme.

“I didn’t benefit from any value, much less the value of the sale of the room”, he said.

Solange said she voted to carry out the investigation. She said she would ask for the breach of bank and tax secrecy of those involved, including hers.