Minister Nunes Marques, of the Federal Supreme Court, decided to keep archived the action that accused former federal deputy Ricardo Barros (PP-PR) of involvement in alleged irregularities in the purchase of Indian Covaxin vaccines against Covid-19, in 2021.
The response refers to an appeal presented by senators Omar Aziz (PSD-AM), Randolfe Rodrigues (PT-AP) and Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL) for the investigation against Barros to be reopened and an inquiry to be opened.
In June 2023, Nunes Marques filed the procedure based on a request for archiving sent by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), following investigations opened by Covid’s Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) in the Senate.
At the time, the STF minister stated that there was no minimum evidence of Barros’ active and concrete participation in the constitution, financing or integration of a criminal organization that proves the accusations made after the CPI’s final report, which resulted in a series of proceedings before the STF to analyze the evidence produced.
When voting on the parliamentarians’ appeal, Nunes Marques said there was no need to reopen the investigation. In the opinion, he reinforced that the PGR “did not find evidence of participation by federal deputy Ricardo Barros in a criminal act, and did not see the need for evidentiary measures that could present a useful result in order to justify the eventual continuation of the deed.”
The appeal began to be judged virtually by the STF in a virtual session, this Friday (29). The other ministers have until next Friday to cast their votes. In the virtual format, judges do not debate their positions, presented in an electronic system.
Remember the case
Barros was leader of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government in the Chamber. His name was involved in the CPI after deputy Luís Miranda (DEM-DF) and his brother, the then Ministry of Health employee Luís Ricardo Miranda, stated that the former president had said that the negotiation for the purchase of the vaccine “it was a thing” by Ricardo Barros.
The accusations concerned intermediation in the purchase of vaccines at prices well above the market through an alleged proximity of the deputy – currently Secretary of Industry and Commerce of the State of Paraná – with the company supplying the vaccine in Brazil, as well as pressure on the ministry to complete the acquisition. The doses, however, were never purchased.
