STJ maintains suspension of early royalty payments – 04/19/2023 – Frederico Vasconcelos

The Special Court of the (Superior Court of Justice) unanimously rejected, this Wednesday (19), the appeals against the decision of Minister Maria Thereza de Assis Moura that stopped the advance payment of oil royalties to the municipalities of São Gonçalo, Magé and Guapimirim, in Rio de Janeiro.

The president of the STJ maintained that the contested decision, by including the three municipalities as beneficiaries of the transfer of royalties and special participations in the State of Rio de Janeiro, imposed on the municipality of Niterói and the municipality of Rio de Janeiro a financial loss capable of compromising the entire planning budget of public entities”.

According to the minister, “the records show, specifically, the serious damage to public order and economy”.

The decision contradicts the strong lobby of law firms interested in millionaire fees with the advance payment of royalties.

In September 2022, Maria Thereza suspended an injunction in a process that was being processed at TRF-1. The National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics Foundation – IBGE were required.

The Municipal Treasury Department of Niterói had proved that the distribution of the royalty values ​​contemplating the three neighboring municipalities would represent a financial loss of approximately R$ 1 billion, almost 1/4 of the municipality’s annual budget.

Subsequently, Maria Thereza extended the effects of the decision granted to Niterói to the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, suspending the effects of the injunction granted until the original action becomes final and unappealable.

The municipalities of São Gonçalo, Magé and Guapimirim had alleged that the suspension of transfers would cause serious damage to the economy of the cities. Maria Thereza emptied the argument by noting that the suspension “does not affect the execution of public policies in the benefited municipalities, since, until then, they did not have this revenue”.

Maria Thereza said that “it is appropriate to request the suspension of an injunction and sentence in the STJ against a decision that maintains the urgent protection granted in the sentence, as unnecessary the prior exhaustion of the ordinary instance”.

court war

As revealed by a report by Luiz Vassalo and Gustavo Queiroz, from Estadão, “a non-profit association works as a kind of law firm to dominate a billion-dollar market based on a judicial war waged by municipalities for framing the sharing of royalties from the exploitation of Oil and Gas”. It is the Association of University Nucleus of Research, Studies and Consultancy (Nupec), which represents the three municipalities.

Ministers Francisco Falcão and Luis Felipe Salomão were prevented from attending this Wednesday’s trial. The mayors of the three municipalities signed contracts without bidding with Nupec and the office of Djaci Falcão, son of Minister Francisco Falcão, of the STJ. Lawyer Luciana Falcão, Djaci’s sister, also works in the case.

Salomão’s impediment was noted in view of the under-establishment of mandates for lawyers from Salomão, Kaiuca e Abrahão Advogados, including his sons Luis Felipe Salomão Filho and Rodrigo Cunha Mello Salomão.

Luis Felipe Salomão Filho attributed the impediment to his previous performance at TRF-2 in procedural matters.

“We are not working at the STJ. We are not a party involved, the appeal was not signed by us”, said the lawyer.

The sub-establishment was signed by lawyer Ricardo Affonso Ramos, associate consultant at Binato de Castro Advogados, which has several city governments in Rio de Janeiro among its clients.

PRESENT LINK: Did you like this text? Subscriber can release five free hits of any link per day. Just click the blue F below.