Former federal deputy and now executive of Chinese automaker BYD is accused of having practiced corruption and involvement in a criminal organization
The minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) Gilmar Mendes annulled the evidence against the former federal deputy in the case that investigates possible crimes of corruption and involvement with a criminal organization. The judge ordered the case to be returned to the Electoral Court and declared the nullity of the evidence and decision-making acts produced by the 7th Federal Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro.
The lawyers responsible for the former congressman’s defense are Igor Tamasauskas and Pierpaolo Bottini. Former Minister of Cities in the (MDB) government, Baldy is now a representative of the Chinese automaker BYD in Brazil.
Baldy was the target, in 2020, of Operation Dardanários, an offshoot of Lava Jato that targeted alleged bribes paid to public agents by businessmen investigated for embezzlement in Rio. He was accused of receiving R$2.5 million in undue advantages from 2014 to 2018. He denies it.
The process runs confidentially, but the Poder360 had access to Minister Gilmar Mendes’ decision, from Thursday (Dec 19, 2024).
Gilmar had considered, in 2020, that the 7th Federal Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro was incompetent to judge the case, which was sent to the Electoral Court. In the order, the STF minister says that the Public Electoral Ministry and the Electoral Court “they simply ignored” the 2020 decision and acted “in an artificial waya” to fail to comply with what was determined by the Court.
“There is flagrant non-compliance with the order of this court following the decision that determined, in an artificial manner, and without any factual change, the archiving of the case in relation to electoral crimes, in order to unduly return the case to the 7th Federal Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro, a body that has already been considered absolutely incompetent to process and judge the facts under analysis”, the document reads.
Gilmar refers to the Public Electoral Prosecutor’s Office’s statement in favor of archiving the case and returning the case to the 7th Court regarding common crimes. The request was accepted by the Electoral Court.
“The analysis of this situation demonstrates that there was an improper use of instruments of procedural bypass of the jurisprudence of this Supreme Court on such a fundamental issue as the guarantee of the natural judge, given that, since the beginning of the investigations, the occurrence of facts of jurisdiction was pointed out. of Specialized Justice”, says the order.
The Minister of the Court states that it is necessary to analyze the situation “strictly” so that “don’t allow yourself” to be “bypass processual”, especially considering the existence of “evidence of the commission of electoral crimes that are discretionarily disregarded by the lower courts to choose the forum arbitrarily considered as most convenient for the investigation and trial of criminal cases”.
