TRF-4 revokes the arrest of Alberto Youssef, Lava Jato pivot – 03/21/2023 – Power

The defense of money changer Alberto Youssef obtained this Tuesday afternoon (21) a habeas corpus revoking the preventive arrest warrant determined by federal judge Eduardo Appio. The decision that releases him from prison is by federal judge Marcelo Malucelli, from the TRF-4 (Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region).

According to him, the Code of Criminal Procedure establishes that preventive detention can only “be decreed by the judge, at the request of the Public Ministry, the complainant or the assistant, or by representation of the police authority”.

“In this context, it is illegal to enact preventive detention by ex officio”, says Malucelli.

Youssef had been arrested on Monday (20) by order of federal judge Eduardo Appio, who took over Lava Jato cases in Curitiba in February.

The judge stated in the decision that the collaboration agreement signed in the operation in 2014 did not cover procedures by the Federal Revenue regarding other crimes attributed to the money changer.

Tax representation had been suspended since May 2020, as determined by substitute federal judge Gabriela Hardt. She had welcomed a statement from the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office that defended the suspension for a period of ten years, in the wake of the benefits obtained by Youssef in his award-winning collaboration agreement signed in Lava Jato.

In that year, the MPF argued that the award-winning collaboration agreement provided for the suspension of ongoing investigations and the statute of limitations when the sum of the sentences in the final and unappealable convictions [quando não há mais possibilidade de recurso] resulted in a minimum of 30 years in prison.

In the recent decision of Judge Appio, however, the magistrate contests the suspension. He understands that tax representation is not part of the award-winning collaboration agreement signed in Lava Jato. “The agreement signed and ratified does not affect the fate of this criminal investigation, which involved the hard work of the Federal Revenue Service, which carried out a thorough investigation”, he says.

The judge states that if the award-winning collaboration covered tax representation, it could be considered “a generic blank letter that would involve any and all criminal investigations”. “I don’t believe this was the scope of the law or even the intention of the agreement signed at the time”, writes Appio.

The magistrate cites that, of a total of 28 lawsuits filed against Youssef, 13 are now suspended for ten years, at the request of the Federal Public Ministry.

In his order, the judge takes the opportunity to criticize Lava Jato’s award-winning collaboration agreement, because the money changer had already failed to comply with a previous agreement, made in 2004, in the Banestado Case. The two agreements were made under the approval of the then judge Sergio Moro, now a senator for União Brasil-PR.

According to Appio, the legislation establishes “in a clear and clear way” that “one cannot reward anyone who has failed to comply with a previous agreement”.

“There was a clear reiteration of the criminal offense after this award-winning collaboration agreement in 2004, with the convict having been arrested again in 2014, also by decision of the then federal judge and now senator for Paraná Dr. Sérgio Moro”, says Appio.

For the new Lava Jato judge, the money changer was “a true architect of several criminal organizations over the last 20 years, given that his multiple recurrences reveal his incompatibility with the unconditional provisional release regime”.

Youssef was arrested around 6:30 pm this Monday in a condominium where he lived, in the resort of Itapoá, on the north coast of Santa Catarina. He was taken by Federal Police agents from Joinville (SC) to the Federal Police Superintendence in Curitiba on Monday.

Upon arriving at the condominium, the PF agents were informed by the doorman that Youssef maintained a work routine at the private port of Itapoá. Also according to the PF report, Youssef arrived at the condominium around 7 pm and was “very unhappy” with the arrest warrant.

He was routed to the car, without handcuffs, and arrived in the capital of Paraná around 9 pm.

When determining the arrest of the money changer, Judge Appio states in his order that Youssef did not resolve all of his disputes with the Federal Revenue. He also claims that the money changer does not keep his address up to date with the Federal Court, which would demonstrate “certainty of impunity”.

The judge also states that the money changer is living in a “very privileged situation in relation to the vast majority of Brazilian citizens” and “incompatible with all the convictions already handed down in criminal matters”. He cites that Youssef would, for example, be trying to buy a plane and a helicopter.

Youssef’s lawyer, Gustavo Flores, has not yet responded to the report’s contact.