STJ annuls Arthur Lira’s conviction for impropriety – 04/27/2023 – Power

Minister Humberto Martins, of the STJ (Superior Court of Justice), annulled a conviction for administrative impropriety by the Justice of Alagoas against the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), in a decision dated April 13. The measure frees the deputy from possible ineligibility based on the Clean Record Law.

Lira and other parliamentarians were convicted by the Justice of Alagoas as a result of Operation Taturana, by the Federal Police, which investigated an alleged scheme to divert resources from the Legislative Assembly. The current president of the Chamber was a state deputy from 1999 to 2010.

Lira was convicted of paying personal loans with office funds and using checks issued from the Assembly account to guarantee personal financing.

The accusation presented by the Public Prosecutor’s Office also brought other suspicions, such as an atypical financial transaction of BRL 9.5 million (in non-adjusted amounts) and cash discount on checks issued by the Assembly in favor of ghost and public servants.

Martins accepted the defense’s appeal, which, among other arguments, claimed that Lira was tried and convicted without having been summoned to file a defense, pursuant to civil procedural law.

According to the lawyers, the citation of its patrons was determined by means of a mere order published in the Official Gazette, “which means an affront to the principles of the adversarial system and full defense, having been, therefore, judged in absentia”.

The minister wrote that the process is riddled with nullity in relation to the appellant “because there was no valid and regular constitution of the process by means of a valid personal citation, under the terms of the legislation”.

The condemnatory sentence of the Alagoas court stated that Lira and the other parliamentarians had “an uncontrollable urge to squander public assets, corroded the bowels of the State Legislative Power, disseminating and institutionalizing the degenerate practice of corruption, proselytism and clientelism”.

In 2016, the Court of Justice of Alagoas confirmed the conviction of the then federal deputy for administrative impropriety, which included the determination of reimbursement of R$ 183,000 to the public coffers (in values ​​at the time) and the suspension of political rights for ten years. .

Two years later, however, the judge of the Court of Justice of Alagoas Celyrio Adamastor Tenório Accioly released Lira’s candidacy for re-election by granting suspensive effect to a special appeal filed by the deputy.

The magistrate’s argument was that the parliamentarian could suffer “irreparable damage” if he were prevented from participating in the elections before the final judgment of his appeals. The Public Ministry appealed, but the STJ at the time rejected reviewing the judge’s measure.