STF files accusation against Ricardo Barros in the Covaxin case

The Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Nunes Marques filed a procedure that accused federal deputy Ricardo Barros (PP-PR) of involvement in alleged irregularities in the purchase of vaccines from the Indian company Covaxin against Covid-19, in 2021. to a request for archiving sent by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), from June last year, after the investigations opened by the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) of Covid in the Senate.

In the decision, last Thursday (15), the minister claims that there is no minimum evidence of active and concrete participation of Barros in the constitution, financing or integration of a criminal organization that proves the accusations pointed out after the final report of the CPI, which resulted in a series of processes with the STF to analyze the evidence produced.

At the time, Barros was leader of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government in the Chamber. His name was involved in the CPI after deputy Luís Miranda (DEM-DF) and his brother, the then Ministry of Health employee Luís Ricardo Miranda, stated that the former president would have said that the negotiation for the purchase of the vaccine “it was a thing” by Ricardo Barros.

The accusations related to intermediation in the purchase of vaccines at prices well above the market through an alleged proximity of the deputy – currently Secretary of Industry and Commerce of the State of Paraná – with the company that supplies the immunizer in Brazil, as well as pressure on the ministry to carry out the acquisition. The shots, however, were never purchased.

STF accepts opinion of the MPF

In the order, Minister Nunes Marques is based on the opinion of the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), which was in favor of dismissing the accusations.

After analyzing the documents and the CPI report, the minister’s decision highlighted the position of the prosecution that “what we have, in the records, are mere criminal hypotheses, raised due to an alleged speech – it should be noted, not confirmed – of the President of the Republic, and an amendment to Provisional Measure 1.026/21 presented by the defendant, all combined with his supposed proximity to the company Global Gestão em Saúde S/A”.

Global was a partner of Certa Medicamentos, which would intermediate the deal with the Indian company.

The decision also points out that the fact that Ricardo Barros submitted an amendment to MP 1.026/21 – which dealt with the emergency purchase of vaccines – cannot be taken as proof of the crime. “It should be noted that the presentation of legislative proposals is a typical act of parliamentary activity, in addition to that, the person represented was not the only member of the House of Laws who did so”, quotes the opinion.

Still citing the MPF, the minister emphasized in his decision that the facts reported by the Miranda brothers were not witnessed by them. “There is only the version of the Parliamentarian maintaining that the President of the Republic would have told him that Ricardo Barros was responsible for the alleged ‘atypical pressure’ – a situation so far not confirmed by Jair Bolsonaro.”

For the MPF, a kind of precarious evidence consisting of the testimony of a person who did not see or witness what happened.

For Barros, decision is “justice being done”

In justifying his decision, Nunes Marques fully complied with the MPF’s grounds, stating that, “in fact, the records do not gather the minimum evidence that is able to corroborate the statements of the witnesses cited in the Final Report of the CPI on the Pandemic, leaving, only, on ‘hearsay’”.

The minister also determined that the records be forwarded to the Federal Court of the Federal District to proceed with the investigations regarding entrepreneurs and servants of the Ministry of Health mentioned in the Final Report of the CPI on the Pandemic, since they do not have jurisdiction due to prerogative of function – therefore, it is not up to the STF to determine them.

On the social network Twitter, Ricardo Barros celebrated the decision. “Justice being done. STF archives process in which they accused me of having participated in negotiations with the Covaxin vaccine. The CPI of the Pandemic accused me of being the leader of the government, to target President Bolsonaro. I thank Bolsonaro for trusting me and keeping me in the lead,” he posted.