TCU defines action rapporteur that may increase Bolsonaro’s ineligibility time

The Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) defined this Tuesday (4) that Minister Jhonathan de Jesus will be the rapporteur of the action that may increase the period of ineligibility of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The representation was filed by the deputy attorney general Lucas Rocha Furtado.

The Public Ministry with the TCU asked the Court to investigate the damage to the treasury involving the meeting with ambassadors held by Bolsonaro last year. The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) determined the former president’s ineligibility for eight years for abuse of political power and misuse of the media after questioning the security of the ballot boxes during the meeting with foreign representatives.

The president of the TCU, Minister Bruno Dantas, stated that he has not yet received notification from the TSE with last week’s decision. If he is convicted by the Court of Accounts, Bolsonaro’s period of ineligibility may increase. Currently, the former president’s period of ineligibility begins to count from the 2022 election.

Dantas signals that, in a possible conviction at the TCU, Bolsonaro’s eight years of ineligibility will only begin to count when the process has become final. With that, the former representative would be ineligible beyond 2030.

“As this eventual TCU judgment will not necessarily happen instantly, a possible period of eight years of ineligibility will occur from the final and unappealable decision. [a conclusão do julgamento no TCU] it can happen in a year, a year and a half, two years, and then the years of ineligibility begin [a contar] from this TCU judgment”, said the minister in an interview with GloboNews.

In the representation, Furtado argued that “it is possible to verify that we are facing the use of the public machine with misuse of purpose, both due to the fact that untrue information was disseminated regarding the Brazilian electoral system, and due to the fact that the then president sought to personally benefit from the reach that transmission through official channels would have”.

The meeting with ambassadors was broadcast on TV Brasil and featured sound professionals, Libras, among others. According to Minister Benedito Gonçalves, rapporteur for the action against Bolsonaro at the TSE, the expenses for the event cost more than R$12,000.

“Evidently, the invoice relating to planning and logistics, in the
value of R$ 12,214.12, is not capable of reflecting the entirety of the public resources employed, in the form of goods and services, in the organization of the meeting”, pointed out Gonçalves in his opinion. The TCU must carry out a new survey on the amounts used to hold the meeting.