State-owned Itaipu sponsors USP event against Lava Jato

The state-owned Itaipu Binacional, linked to the federal government, is the main sponsor of an event critical to the Lava Jato operation that began this Thursday (26) and continues this Friday (27) at the Faculty of Law of the University of São Paulo (USP) .

The event called “Critical Review of Lava Jato”, which received R$ 60 thousand from the hydroelectric plant, is an initiative of the Center for Research and Extension in Criminal Sciences at USP in conjunction with the Instituto Defesa da Classe Trabalhadora – an NGO openly supportive of the Lula government .

Itaipu is chaired by federal deputy Ênio Verri (PT-PR), who took over the general direction of the binational in March this year, at the beginning of the new PT government.

In an email sent to USP students and professors, the congress organization mentions that “in two days of the event [26 e 27 de
outubro]the program will feature lawyers, professors, journalists, judges and researchers, addressing the effects of the biggest lawfare case in the country”.

Among the speakers are a series of Lula (PT) supporters, critical of the operation that arrested the president and several of his allies. One of the guests to speak is the number 2 in Flávio Dino’s portfolio, the National Secretary of Justice Augusto de Arruda Botelho, who will speak on the panel “The perversion of the process”.

Another figure close to PT members who was invited to speak is the lawyer Antônio Carlos de Almeida Castro, known as Kakay. It was at the lawyer’s house that the diploma party for the newly elected president Lula took place, complete with samba and the presence of STF ministers Alexandre de Moraes and Dias Toffoli, and former minister Ricardo Lewandowski.

Jurist Pedro Serrano, who was being considered for Lula’s nomination to the STF, is another speaker. He, who is very close to the Workers’ Party and has always been critical of Lava Jato and Lula’s convictions, will speak on the panel “Geopolitical implications of Lava Jato”.

The panel “Lava Jato has finally been cleaned up” includes lawyer and professor of Constitutional Law Lenio Streck, who is a great supporter of the current president. He contributes articles to the PT website and is part of the group of lawyers known as “Prerogativas”, or “Prerrô”, which helped bring Lula and Geraldo Alckmin together. In December 2019, Streck participated in a football match between friends of Lula and Chico Buarque against friends from the MST.

According to a statement to Conjur from the coordinator of the USP research center who organized the event, Maurício Dieter, the congress will analyze in depth the operation that “weakened the credibility of the Federal Justice, destroyed the legitimacy of the Federal Public Ministry and undermined the institutionality of the Rule of Law, with consequences terrible for the country, for companies, for jobs and for the democratic regime”.

A supporter of Lula, Dieter was appointed in March by Minister Flávio Dino to take up a position on the National Council for Criminal and Penitentiary Policy, which is part of the Ministry of Justice.

Itaipu’s positioning

In a note, Itaipu told the People’s Gazette that the event it is sponsoring “aims to debate technically and scientifically, together with renowned names in national law, the Critical Assessment of Lava Jato”. Also according to the state-owned company, the “USP Criminal Sciences Extension Center aims to stimulate the study and debate in criminology by holding study groups, organizing lectures and scientific-academic improvement days, as is the case in question”.

In Itaipu’s assessment, the event aims to democratize knowledge of criminological and critical law, “since with the historical distance of almost ten years since the beginning of this action to combat corruption, it is possible to take stock of the impacts that have occurred in various sectors of the national economy, such as in the energy, oil and civil construction sectors”.

For the legal director of Itaipu Binacional, Luiz Fernando Delazari, academic discussion on the consequences of the Lava Jato operation for the country, including the energy sector and the environment, is essential. “Furthermore, the USP Criminal Sciences Extension Center is one of the most qualified research and extension institutes to carry out this debate”, he reinforced.

USP Law School was the creator of the so-called “Charter of Democracy”

The Faculty of Law at USP was the author of the so-called “Letter to Brazilians in defense of the democratic rule of law” during last year’s election period, which indirectly criticized former president Jair Bolsonaro, at the time Lula’s main opponent. The letter reached one million signatures.

In addition to Lula, other candidates for the presidency signed the letter, such as the now Minister of Planning Simone Tebet (MDB), the Minister of Economy Fernando Haddad (PT), Ciro Gomes (PDT) and the then PSB candidate for the government of Rio de Janeiro. January, Marcelo Freixo – who after Lula’s election won a place in the presidency of Embratur, linked to the Ministry of Tourism.