Moro has a threatened mandate and is at risk of a setback already in PR – 07/16/2023 – Power

Defendant in an electoral judicial investigation action on suspicion of abuse of economic power in the pre-campaign of the 2022 elections, Senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR) is at risk of defeat already in his own stronghold, the Justice of Paraná.

The assessment is made by political opponents and also by allies of the former Lava Jato judge and former Minister of Justice, for whom there is an unfavorable trend towards Moro in the state’s TRE (Regional Electoral Court).

The current phase of the process, which may decide to revoke his mandate, is the production of evidence. In addition to irregularities in the pre-campaign, Moro is accused of electoral spending above the limits established by law.

For the dispute for the Senate of Paraná, the ceiling was R$ 4.4 million. Moro declared an expense of BRL 5.2 million, according to the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) website.

The senator denies any wrongdoing.

The climate previously seen as favorable for the former federal judge has changed since the 5th, with the inauguration of three new members of the court.

The replacement of TRE members even led to the appointment of a new case rapporteur. With the departure of Mário Helton Jorge from the court, the judge D’Artagnan Serpa Sá took over the reporting of the action.

In the legal field, the bet was that Helton would present an opinion on the groundlessness of the representation against Moro. But he ended up submerging after the repercussion of his speech, during a session in April, in which he stated that Paraná “has a higher cultural level than the North and Northeast” and that it is a place that does not have the “political game of other states”.

Helton had taken over the reporting of the case after the TRE’s vice-president and corregidor, Fernando Wolff Bodziak, considered himself impeded.

In June, Helton dismissed requests for breach of secrecy and search and seizure against those being investigated.

At the Court of Justice of Paraná, the new rapporteur is not on the list of car washers. Among his peers, Serpa Sá —who was an advisor to former governor José Richa— is described as capable of resisting pressure from Moro supporters.

Lawyer Julio Jacob Junior also makes his debut in court. Linked to former Tucano governor Beto Richa, he was nominated by President Lula (PT) in April, after a tour of Brasília.

His name was also submitted to a board made up of the government, presenting himself as a lawyer without political ties, guarantor, that is, of the current that tends to privilege individual rights and the presumption of innocence in trials.

According to reports, when asked directly about the requests for the revocation of Moro’s mandate, presented by the PL and the PT, Jacob stated that, if there is proof of non-compliance with the electoral law, he would not fail to vote for the removal of the former judge because of his resume, number of votes or pressure from public opinion.

Judge Anderson Ricardo Fogaça has also just taken over a seat at the TRE. He served as assistant judge to the presidency of the Court of Justice during the management of José Laurindo de Souza Netto — who today postulates Lula’s preference for the Superior Court of Justice.

Fogaça is also listed among those who could vote for the annulment of Moro’s mandate in case of presentation of consistent evidence.

Returned to court in January 2022, lawyer Thiago Paiva dos Santos was appointed to the TRE in 2019 by then President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and with the endorsement of Moro, at the time his Minister of Justice.

This, however, is not interpreted as a pro-Moro sign.

Married to a niece of the state secretary and former leader of the Bolsonaro government, Ricardo Barros, Thiago was already a member of the state traffic council in the Richa government.

Allies of Moro list judge Guilherme Denz and federal judge Cláudia Cristina Cristofani as possible supporters of maintaining his mandate.

Politically isolated in Paraná and the author of harsh criticism of the Judiciary, Moro has a scenario considered more comfortable if he manages at least a tie, among the six votes, which would take the decision to the president of the TRE, Wellington Emanuel Coimbra de Moura, with who has already met.

According to reports, the judge would have advised Moro to be more concerned with the judgment of the TSE, which will have the final say – whatever the result in Paraná, there must be an appeal to the superior court.

A Sheet sought out the aforementioned court members, but none of them manifested.

Moro’s trial takes place in the same political environment that led the TSE to unanimously revoke the registration of the candidacy and, consequently, the mandate of federal deputy of Deltan Dallagnol (Podemos-PR), former coordinator of the task force of Operation Lava Jato in Curitiba.

The action against Deltan stemmed from the representation of the Brazilian Federation of Hope (PT, PC do B and PV) and the PMN, who alleged that Deltan could not have left his career as a public prosecutor to enter politics because he responded to investigations, disciplinary complaints and requests for action from the CNMP (National Council of the Public Ministry).

Deltan and Moro receive the same label from a wide spectrum of the political world, which points to both as responsible for using Lava Jato and Justice to project themselves politically.

Moro still has against him the list of expenses made by Podemos and União Brasil in the 2022 election race.

In the actions, Moro and his alternates are accused of, supposedly, orchestrating a set of actions to take advantage of the structure and exposure of the pre-presidential campaign to later migrate to a dispute, the Senate, with a much lower spending ceiling.

The action also highlights the hiring of companies registered in the name of the alternate, which could configure a cash 2 practice.

Defender of Moro, lawyer Gustavo Guedes denies irregularities and says he trusts a technical result. “I hope that, as always, the TRE will make a technical analysis of the evidence.”

When contacted, the senator declined to speak personally.

Faced with the possibility of losing his mandate, which would lead to the calling of a supplementary election, there is already an intense backstage dispute between politicians from Paraná who are emerging as potential candidates for the Senate. Among them, Ricardo Barros himself, as well as PT president, deputy Gleisi Hoffmann.