Tacla Duran’s accusation against Moro and Dallagnol in the STF

Minister Ricardo Lewandowski decided this Monday (10th) to maintain in the Federal Supreme Court (STF) the crime news in which lawyer Rodrigo Tacla Duran accuses Senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR) and federal deputy Deltan Dallagnol (Podemos -PR) of an alleged extortion attempt. The decision takes place one day before the minister’s retirement, scheduled for this Tuesday (11).

With that, the rapporteurship of the case should be inherited by Lewandowski’s successor. The favorite for the vacancy is lawyer Cristiano Zanin, who defended President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in Lava Jato actions.

In the decision, the minister cites the opinion of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) on crime news. For the PGR, the “chronology of the facts exposed in this demonstration points to possible interference by the [ex-juiz] Sergio Moro in the judgment of the cases involving Lava Jato” – including in the cases involving Rodrigo Tacla Duran. The body mentions that this supposedly occurred even after the judge was dismissed from office and, for the PGR, it would involve acts performed in the capacity of Minister of the State of Justice.

“Thus, I verify that, at least in this initial phase, the competence to
the supervision and investigation of the facts reported in the present file is the responsibility of the Federal Supreme Court”, determined Lewandowski. The minister points out that, “according to the PGR, some of the alleged acts may have been practiced in the exercise of positions with special jurisdiction due to function prerogative”.

The magistrate also accepted the request for the return of the case files to the Attorney General’s Office “for a more detailed examination of the facts and a possible request for the initiation of an investigation”.

At the end of March, Tacla Duran stated in a hearing that he had a preventive detention decreed by Moro, for allegedly refusing to pay US$ 5 million to the lawyer Carlos Zucolotto Junior, former partner of the deputy Rosangela Moro (União Brasil-SP) , wife of the former judge. Lawmakers deny the allegations.

What Moro and Dallagnol say about Tacla Duran’s accusations

In a note sent to People’s Gazetteon March 27, Moro stated that he “does not fear any investigation, but regrets the political use of slander made by a confessed criminal who lacks credibility”.

“This is a person who, after initially denying it, later confessed to professionally laundering money for Odebrecht and had his preventive detention decreed in Lava Jato. Since 2017 he has been making false accusations, without any proof, except for those he himself fabricated. He has been trying since 2020 to make a plea bargain with the Attorney General’s Office, without success. Due to lack of evidence, the procedure at the PGR was filed on 6/9/22”, said the former judge.

At the time, the former coordinator of the Lava Jato task force and now federal deputy, Deltan Dallagnol (Podemos-PR), criticized the holding of the hearing by Judge Eduardo Appio, from the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba. The parliamentarian called the judge a “Lulist” and “media-oriented” in a series of posts on Twitter.

“Guess who believed one of the accused who most tried to deceive authorities in Lava Jato? He himself, the Lula judge and media expert Eduardo Appio (better known as LUL22), who doesn’t even disguise the attempt to retaliate against those who, unlike him, fought against the corruption,” said Dallagnol. He made reference to the news that Appio would have adopted the initials “LUL22” as electronic identification in the Justice system of Paraná, the E-proc, between 2021 and the beginning of this year.

The deputy referred to Tacla Duran as a “compulsive liar, confessed criminal and professional money launderer”. For Dallagnol, the hearing was a “smokescreen” to “deflect the focus from the government’s mistakes”.

“The truth is that both the government and the militancy are still without direction after the political and communication disasters created by Lula last week, and that is why they try to create smokescreens to divert the focus from the government’s mistakes, which they did not can explain,” he said.