Toffoli grants habeas corpus to Tacla Duran to depose – 06/06/2023 – Power

Minister Dias Toffoli, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), granted this Tuesday (16) temporary safe conduct to lawyer Rodrigo Tacla Duran so that he can travel to Brazil and participate in a hearing in the Chamber without running the risk of being arrested.

The lawyer is at the center of a political clash between supporters of President Lula (PT) and the Lava Jato enthusiast group. Tacla Duran, who is a defendant in the operation, claims that he was extorted when negotiating a collaboration agreement in Curitiba.

The hearing was requested by the Chamber’s Administration and Public Service Commission to deal with alleged extortion allegations in Lava Jato and is scheduled for the 19th.

“In view of the negotiations maintained by the Chamber of Deputies with the deponent so that he is assured ‘immunity’, so that he can clarify the complaints under consideration to the parliament, I think that there is no other alternative than the granting of a safe-conduct for this purpose “, says Toffoli in his decision.

“That said, I cautiously grant preventive habeas corpus (safe conduct) to the applicant, pursuant to the provisions of article 654, paragraph 2, of the Code of Criminal Procedure, only so that he can enter the country and provide the necessary clarifications to the National Congress .”

Lawyer Rodrigo Tacla Duran became the target of Lava Jato investigators in 2016, when he was appointed by whistleblowers as a financial operator for contractors. A breach of confidentiality showed that his law firm received BRL 55 million (in unadjusted amounts) from construction companies from 2011 to 2013. As a lawyer, he worked for Odebrecht from 2011 to 2016.

In 2016, he had his arrest decreed by the then judge Sergio Moro in the 36th phase of the operation and was even detained in Spain. He was later released and, because he had Spanish citizenship, his extradition to Brazil was rejected. The preventive detention order issued in Curitiba remained open, and criminal proceedings were initiated against him.

There were, however, Supreme Court decisions that paralyzed proceedings against the lawyer.

On April 11 of this year, appellate judge Marcelo Malucelli, from the TRF-4 (Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region), accepted a request from the Federal Public Ministry and overturned a first instance decision that allowed Tacla Duran access to the evidence of the operation, in person, and also scheduled the face-to-face hearing in Curitiba. The lawyer then decided not to return to Brazil.

Subsequently, the national justice inspector, Luis Felipe Salomão, asked Malucelli for explanations on the 14th to find out whether the TRF-4 could have acted in the case, since the Supreme Court had paralyzed the process.