STF acquits Waldez Góes of conviction for embezzlement – News of Brazil

The 1st Panel of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) decided this Tuesday, 6, by 3 to 1, to acquit the Minister of Integration and Regional Development, Waldez Goes, of a conviction for embezzlement.

The politician was convicted in 2019 by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ). The case refers to facts from when he was governor of Amapá. He was accused of withholding and diverting amounts intended for the payment of payroll loans from servants in Amapá, between 2009 and 2010, using the money for other government expenses.

The rapporteur voted for acquittal, Roberto Barroso, and the ministers Alexandre de Moraes It is Luiz Fux. Marco Aurelio (retired) had voted in a previous session against the defense’s request for Goes. the minister Carmen Lúcia did not vote on the case because he started to occupy the chair of Marco Aurelio in the collegiate, after the magistrate’s retirement.

The rapporteur changed his previously expressed position. He said that he would follow the understanding of the plenary of the Court in a similar case, that it was not considered a crime of embezzlement because there was no illicit enrichment or diversion of money for the benefit of the accused himself.

“I consider the position of the plenary to be reasonable, even if it diverges from mine, and as a consequence, I am readjusting my vote to, in honor of the principle of collegiality, in line with the divergence that was presented by Alexandre de Moraes, acquit the patient”he said.

Defense

“It was an important decision by the Supreme Court. A conviction in this case would be a profound injustice and a situation that would completely escape the jurisprudence of our Supreme Court.”said the lawyer Jose Eduardo Cardozo, of the defense of Waldez Goes.

The case under analysis was a habeas corpus filed by the defense of Goes. The lawyers asked for the annulment of the STJ judgment and the referral of the action for judgment at the Court of Justice of Amapá (Tjap), with a request to extend to Góes the acquittal given to other defendants by the court in the same case.

The action was being analyzed in a virtual session of the 1st Panel that began on May 19. A prominent request from Minister Roberto Barroso interrupted the analysis and referred the case to physical judgment, with debate between the magistrates.

In 2021, the rapporteur, Minister Roberto Barroso, and Marco Aurélio (retired) voted against the defense’s request. For them, the STJ has competence to deal with the case. In addition, according to the rapporteur, the acquittal of the other defendants cannot be extended to Góes for procedural reasons.

At the time, Alexandre de Moraes asked for a review (more time for analysis). In the resumption of the trial, in a virtual session last month, Moraes voted in favor of Góes’ defense, granting habeas corpus to absolve him of the imputation of embezzlement. Luiz Fux’s vote was still missing.

By voting in favor of Góes, Moraes understood that the then governor used amounts withheld from payroll loans from civil servants to meet other public priorities, without particular benefit. “Thus, verifying that the use of the diverted resource occurred for a strictly public purpose, for the benefit of the administration itself, it is imperative to recognize the non-occurrence of the crime of embezzlement”he said.

Understand

The accusation against Góes involves the suspicion of misappropriation of public money destined to pay off payroll loans from servants of Amapá between 2009 and 2010. Under the argument of financial difficulty of the state, the amounts continued to be deducted from the salaries of the employees, but were used for other expenses, instead of going to creditor financial institutions.

He was acquitted for lack of evidence in 2014 at the 1st Instance of Justice in Amapá, when he no longer occupied the state government. As he returned to office in 2015, the Public Ministry’s appeal against the acquittal was sent to the STJ, which ended up condemning Góes to six years and nine months of imprisonment, in a semi-open regime, to the loss of his position, to the payment of a fine and to refund R$ 6.3 million to public coffers.

The other defendants had their acquittal confirmed by the 2nd Instance, at Tjap. There is no further appeal of the decision.

After filing habeas corpus with the STF, following the conviction and during the Judiciary’s duty, the Justice toffoli days suspended the action at the STJ, complying with a request for an injunction from the defense of Waldez Goes.

(Source: CNN)

---

Leave your comment

Advertising