Silence of Aras freed Toffoli and investigation center – 09/30/2023 – Power

Former Attorney General of the Republic Augusto Aras acted to archive investigations into leaders of the center, members of the TCU (Federal Audit Court) and the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) and even an investigation against Minister Dias Toffoli, of the STF (Federal Court of Justice).

Responsible for praising the now former PGR, Toffoli suggested that Aras’s “silence” during his administration saved the country at a time that was “very close” to institutional rupture. The statement was made in a speech on Monday (25), on the last day of the prosecutor’s term as head of the Federal Public Ministry.

The minister did not mention the reasons for this threat of rupture, when it occurred and who was behind it — the moments of tension between the Powers occurred during the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government. He only said that this will be told “further in history” and stated that, without Aras, “maybe we wouldn’t be here” and “maybe we wouldn’t have democracy.”

Aras’s beneficial actions towards politicians and members of the Judiciary are recorded in several cases that were processed by the STF and the STJ.

Some of these statements were signed by Aras himself and others by deputy prosecutor Lindôra Araújo, the former PGR’s right-hand man in criminal cases.

An emblematic case is that derived from the denunciation of the former governor of Rio de Janeiro Sérgio Cabral.

A double act by Aras and Toffoli meant that the investigations based on the accusation were archived even after an order from Minister Edson Fachin, also from the STF, to begin the investigations.

The accusation initially cited ministers from the TCU, such as current president Bruno Dantas, and from the STJ, such as Humberto Martins. Everyone denies Cabral’s accusations.

The statement was approved in February 2020 by Fachin, who authorized the opening of different investigations and forwarded it to the then president of the STF, Dias Toffoli, with a request for distribution.

The STF minister disregarded Fachin’s decision to open the cases, asked for a statement from Augusto Aras, who was against continuing, and shelved the investigations — three of them during the July recess and the others shortly before he left the presidency of the court , in September 2020.

Months later, new statements from Cabral cited Toffoli himself in alleged plots to sell the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) sentence.

The PF then requested new investigations, one of them against the STF minister. In May 2021, after the Sheet revealing the request for investigation, Aras sent a letter to the Supreme Court in which he reinforced his position against the investigations and Cabral’s agreement.

Based on this demonstration, Fachin prohibited the PF from investigating Toffoli and, subsequently, the STF plenary annulled the former governor’s agreement.

The minister said at the time that he was not aware of the facts mentioned and that he never received the alleged illegal amounts.

Who also benefited from Aras’ action was the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), one of the main supporters of the prosecutor’s reappointment as head of the MPF by Lula (PT).

In an unprecedented situation until then, the PGR of Aras “unreported” Lira in a case about an alleged payment of R$1.6 million made to the parliamentarian by the construction company Queiroz Galvão.

After offering the complaint in June 2020, the PGR backed down three months later and asked for the case to be archived. The request was accepted by the STF and the case was closed.

The PGR under Aras also changed its position in the case of a former Lira advisor who had been caught at Congonhas airport transporting R$106,000 in cash in 2012.

In 2019, the First Panel of the STF agreed to open criminal proceedings against Lira in this case on charges of corruption. In 2020, Minister Dias Toffoli, however, asked for more time for analysis, which prevented the case from continuing to be processed for two years.

In 2023, the PGR decided to review its position again and requested that the Supreme Court reject the complaint presented by the body in 2018.

Aras freed Lira from an investigation again this year. The deputy came into the sights of the PF after the Sheet reveal suspected deviations in robotics kit contracts.

The investigation opened by the PF progressed and during searches related to an advisor to Lira, notes of payments to the parliamentarian and personal accounts were found.

Shortly after the operation, in May, Lindôra Araújo spoke out against the investigation and asked for its annulment. The case was then blocked by minister Gilmar Mendes, which prevented the investigation against the president of the Chamber from continuing.

Lira has always denied the irregularities indicated and defended the dismissal of the cases.

The PGR under Aras also freed another leader from the investigation center.

In May 2022, Lindôra Araújo asked Minister Rosa Weber, of the STF, to archive the investigation opened to investigate the suspicion that Ciro Nogueira, president of the PP, received bribes from the JBS group in 2014.

“It is necessary to recognize that the investigation did not meet minimum evidentiary support (just cause in the strict sense) to support the offering of a complaint to the detriment of the parliamentarian”, he stated.

The demonstration went in the opposite direction of the PF investigation. According to investigators, Ciro Nogueira received bribes from the Batista brothers and committed the crimes of passive corruption and money laundering. At the time, the then minister’s defense denied any irregularities.

Lawyer Antonio Carlos de Almeida Castro, known as Kakay, defender of Ciro Nogueira, highlighted the PGR’s “important and well-founded statement” at the time.

“The worthy PGR was emphatic in stating that ‘it is necessary to recognize that the investigation did not meet minimum evidentiary support (just cause in the strict sense) to support the offering of the complaint to the detriment of the parliamentarian'”, said Kakay.