Toffoli requests review and suspends judgment on Collor’s appeal to the STF

Minister Dias Toffoli, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), requested review and suspended the judgment of an appeal by former senator Fernando Collor against his conviction for passive corruption and money laundering. The court determined a sentence of 8 years and 10 months in prison, depending on the analysis of the appeal.

The trial began in the virtual plenary last Friday (9) with the vote of minister Alexandre de Moraes, who rejected Collor’s arguments. The STF regulations allow the process to be returned for continued analysis within 90 days.

Moraes wrote in the vote that “the embargoers [Collor e demais réus] they seek, in fact, to re-discuss points already decided by the Supreme Court in the judgment of this criminal action, invoking grounds that, under the pretext of seeking to remedy omissions, obscurities or contradictions, reveal mere non-compliance with the adopted conclusion”.

In the criminal action, derived from Operation Lava Jato, Collor was accused of receiving bribes from a scheme at BR Distribuidora, a subsidiary of Petrobras. Proofs found with money changer Alberto Youssef and statements from whistleblowers were used as evidence by the Attorney General’s Office.

“In addition to the words of the collaborators, several other material and testimonial elements of evidence were collated and considered to support the underlying reasons for the collegiate decision rendered in the case”, wrote the Prosecutor’s Office.

Collor’s defense claimed that the trial was based on mistaken premises and that the defensive theses were disregarded in the condemnatory votes. The Prosecutor’s Office highlighted that in addition to the collaborators’ words, other evidence was considered to support the collegial decision.