STJ rejects complaint against judge in controversial process – 05/19/2023 – Frederico Vasconcelos

The STJ (Superior Court of Justice) rejected by a majority (eight votes to four) a complaint against Judge Alexandre Victor de Carvalho, of the Court of Justice of Minas Gerais, accused of passive corruption.

It is the outcome of a long and controversial process filed at the STJ in September 2014.

According to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, Carvalho asked the authorities of the Legislative Power to nominate his wife for a position in the Legislative Assembly and his son for a position in the Municipal Chamber of Belo Horizonte. It would be compensation for his support for the appointment of lawyer Alice Birchal to the position of judge at the TJ-MG.

The relatives of the judge, former president of TRE-MG, would have been named as “ghost servants”. Carvalho was accused of committing passive corruption twice. In the previous session, deputy attorney general Carlos Frederico dos Santos said that the facts were “ripe for the receipt of the complaint”.

Luis Felipe Salomão, Benedito Gonçalves, Og ​​Fernandes, Mauro Campbell Marques, Raul Araújo, Maria Isabel Gallotti, Antonio Carlos Ferreira and João Otávio de Noronha voted for rejecting the complaint.

Herman Benjamin (rapporteur), Francisco Falcão, Nancy Andrighi and Laurita Vaz who received the complaint were defeated.

lack of just cause

This Wednesday (17th), the Special Court resumed the trial with the review vote of Og Fernandes, who followed Salomão’s vote, “with regard to the absence of just cause”. Fernandes considered it “quite reckless” to accept the complaint, given the “fragility of the elements of the accusation”.

Salomão maintained that, for the crime set forth in article 317 of the Penal Code, it would be necessary to prove the causal relationship between the alleged undue advantage received and the alleged official act practiced by the judge (acting behind the scenes and voting in favor of from the lawyer to the triple list).

The allegations in the complaint are a mere “hypothetical exercise” in passive corruption, he said.

The rapporteur reaffirmed that the magistrate received undue advantage, according to the caput of article 317 of the CP. Benjamin had said that “the advantage was actually received, there was a delivery service”. They would be “married nominations for the post of phantom exercise”.

According to Benjamin, the magistrate “requested or received undue advantage, for himself or for another [para a mulher, Andreza Campos Victor de Carvalho, e para o filho, Guilherme Souza Victor de Carvalho]directly or indirectly, even outside the function or before assuming it or accepting a promise of such advantage”.

In one of the sessions of the Special Court, there were attempts by some members of the Court to prevent the rapporteur from casting his vote and presenting audio with dialogues between Carvalho and lawyer Vinício Kalid Antônio. Carvalho details how an alleged scheme to favor law firms in TRE-MG would work.

Salomão said that, “from an ethical and disciplinary point of view, the matter is being dealt with by the National Council of Justice”. He said “flashy audio was exposed”.

When opening the divergence, Salomão said that “no one accepts that a magistrate has this type of dialogue, but no element is extracted, no sufficient evidence to perceive the undue advantage”.

“In these dialogues there are not even indications of an official act. It is pure inference, pure persecution”.

Carvalho’s lawyer, Eugênio Aragão, former Minister of Justice [governo Dilma Rousseff], maintained that there was “a bit tortuous procedure”. The inquiry was to investigate the suspected sale of sentences. The judge “was not and was not mentioned in that investigation”.

In one of the recordings, Carvalho boasts of the influence he has on the judiciary. He was assistant judge of the then Corregidor João Otávio de Noronha. In another procedure at the CNJ, he was defended by the then lawyer Alexandre de Moraes.

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