PGR: Gleisi seeks to veto candidate from Gilmar and Moraes – 10/02/2023 – Power

The electoral deputy attorney general, Paulo Gonet Branco, is campaigning behind the scenes to succeed Augusto Aras as head of the PGR (Attorney General’s Office), but is facing resistance within the PT, especially from the president of the party, Gleisi Hoffmann ( PT-PR).

Gonet has important supporters, such as STF (Supreme Federal Court) ministers Gilmar Mendes and Alexandre de Moraes. PT wings prefer Antônio Carlos Bigonha for the post.

In 2016, the current head of the Attorney General’s electoral section gave an oral argument to the Second Panel of the Supreme Court to defend the opening of criminal proceedings against Gleisi and her ex-husband, Paulo Bernardo, who was a minister in PT governments for almost ten years.

Unanimously, the panel decided to make them defendants. In 2018, however, both were acquitted by the same group.

Gonet defended at the time the receipt of the complaint against the two within the scope of Lava Jato and stated that “those accused were fully aware of the criminal scheme and the spurious origin of the quantities they received”.

The PGR’s accusation stated that Gleisi’s campaign for the Senate in 2010 had received R$1 million from overpriced Petrobras contracts.

“The complaint describes facts. The complaint is rich in details that the Attorney General of the Republic imputes to those accused. It is supported by sufficient elements of conviction for the complaint to be received”, said Gonet.

The Prosecutor’s Office, at the time headed by Rodrigo Janot, had an initial victory and, unanimously, the Supreme Court decided to make both defendants for money laundering and corruption.

Lava Jato rapporteur at the STF at the time, minister Teori Zavascki voted to open the criminal case and was endorsed by his other colleagues. The minister argued that the piece provided a clear description of the facts. “The initial elements converge in the sense that, in theory, an undue advantage would have occurred,” he said.

Later, however, in a trial that lasted almost nine hours, the group decided to acquit them of the charges.

The case’s rapporteur was already Minister Edson Fachin, who argued that no elements were presented that demonstrated the configuration of the crime of passive corruption.

“No evidence was obtained that was essential to confirm the request for the undue advantage attributed in the complaint or any participation in its receipt,” he declared.

However, Fachin stated that Gleisi should be convicted of the crime of ideological falsehood. Minister Celso de Mello accompanied the rapporteur, but they ended up defeated.

The divergence opened by minister Dias Toffoli prevailed, who was followed by Gilmar Mendes and Ricardo Lewandowski, to acquit both of all charges.

Gleisi’s lawyer in the case, Rodrigo Mudrovitsch, denies any irritation with Gonet’s actions at the time.

“I was the lawyer in the case. At no point was the defense bothered by the oral argument given by Dr. Paulo Gonet when the complaint was received. It was a technical performance at an early stage in the process,” he says.

According to him, “what caused deep discomfort in the defense — and subsequently led to the fair acquittal of all those unduly accused — was the recklessness of the actions of the then attorney general, who acted in a manner completely contrary to the evidence in the case and tried, until the last moment, obtain an undue conviction”.

Aras’ term at PGR ended on the 26th and it will be up to President Lula (PT) to choose his successor.

Deputy Attorney Elizeta Ramos took on the role on an interim basis on Wednesday (27) under suspicion from a wing of the Lula (PT) government that sees her as a jatist. Allies cite this fact to pressure Lula to quickly choose who will be Aras’ successor.

The president has not yet dropped the hammer, but Gonet’s name has gained strength behind the scenes due to the support of Gilmar and Moraes, who are the most influential judges in the Supreme Court.

The PT member has already made it clear to allies that he does not want to displease the two magistrates, who have established themselves as the government’s main interlocutors in the Supreme Court.

However, the president has also assessed the extent to which it would be appropriate to further expand the powers of Moraes and Gilmar, who are working together to place people close to them in other important positions in the Judiciary.