The mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL).| Photo: Bruno Spada/Chamber of Deputies.

The first class of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) resumes, on Tuesday (6), the judgment of an appeal by the defense of the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), against a complaint offered by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) for passive corruption.

The resumption of the trial was determined by Minister Dias Toffoli and occurs after the PGR changed its understanding and manifested itself by filing the complaint against Lira filed by the body itself in 2018. For the PGR, only the report of whistleblowers is not enough to receive denunciation after the changes introduced in the anti-crime package.

The appeal trial had been paralyzed since 2020, when Toffoli requested a view. At that time, the STF had formed a majority to deny the appeal and make the deputy defendant. The minister, who is now part of the Second Panel, returns to the collegiate for the judgment.

The analysis will define whether or not Lira will actually be a defendant in this case, which involves the seizure of BRL 106,000 in cash from a parliamentary advisor in 2012 when he tried to board at Congonhas airport, in São Paulo, bound for Brasília using airline tickets. funded by the federal deputy. Upon being arrested, the aide said that the money belonged to Lira.

At the time, Lira, who was leader of her party, claimed to have paid for the advisor’s tickets, but said she was not aware of the amount. In February of this year, Lira’s lawyers filed an appeal in the action, arguing points brought by Law 13.964/2019 (Anti-Crime Law), which does not allow the receipt of a complaint based only on employee denunciation. The appeal presented is the one that will be judged by the first class of the STF.