The first moment of spotlight in the political life of the deputy (-PB), favorite to head the Chamber from February onwards, was marked by maneuvers, confusion and even accusations from the Public Ministry of favoring his main ally.
In 2015, when he was just 25 years old, Hugo Motta was elevated by the then president of the Chamber, (then in the PMDB-RJ), to the presidency of the , created that year to investigate in Congress the revelations that emerged in the .
It was a position of extremely high importance at the time, when Lava Jato, even in a period before the investigations into the current president, targeted the names of several large parties and caused continuous tension in Brasília.
The CPI was already appointed by Hugo Motta for the post, there was a protest from parliamentarians due to the fact that he and other colleagues had their campaigns supported by construction companies investigated — at the time, electoral donations from companies were legal.
It took eight months of work and dozens of sessions. In the end, however, only one politician was indicted: the former treasurer of the
After the commission’s work ended, at the end of 2015 the then attorney general concluded “he placed his allies in key positions to embarrass collaborators, as well as to prevent himself from being investigated by that commission”.
The proximity to the then president of the House was public. In one of the symbolic scenes of the period, Hugo Motta appeared next to the stands at the Mané Garrincha stadium during a Flamengo game, in Brasília. The former deputy himself, in his , describes the then co-religionist as “a good person, fulfilling his commitments”.
In the document requesting the removal, the (Attorney General’s Office) cited that the CPI approved in a non-transparent manner the summons of lawyer Beatriz Catta Preta, who had worked on the plea bargains of a series of Lava Jato whistleblowers.
The approval, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, occurred after one of the lawyer’s clients, Julio Camargo, accused Cunha of receiving bribes related to Petrobras ships. In 2015, the then president of the Chamber was one of the best-known targets of the investigations, having been one of the first parliamentarians formally accused.
The lawyer said her summons was a form of retaliation.
Another point mentioned by the then attorney general was the hiring by the CPI chaired by the deputy from Paraíba focused on financial investigation, for the amount of R$ 1.2 million (R$ 2 million adjusted for inflation in the period).
The official justification for the expense was to help with the commission’s investigations, but, for the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the intention was to track down some flaw in the collaboration agreements that would nullify the testimonies of the whistleblowers — thus favoring Cunha himself.
According to the PGR, the targets of the investigation company were mostly whistleblowers, with important figures from petrolão, such as politicians and contractors, being left out, in a “total deviation from public purpose”.
Later, the idea of hiring — with a view to stopping Lava Jato — was discussed in a conversation between him and Cunha and another Odebrecht executive, at the time of the creation of the CPI.
The information was sent to the STF (Supreme Federal Court), which was responsible for removing Eduardo Cunha from his post.
In May 2016, five months after the request, the then rapporteur of the case at the Supreme Court, , spoke out ordering the president of the Chamber to leave his role due to the risk of obstruction of justice. It was one of the harshest measures ever taken by the Supreme Court, with repercussions that are debated to this day, due to the unprecedented nature of the intervention of the Judiciary at the head of another Branch.
Teori did not specifically mention Hugo Motta in his decision, but mentioned that the CPI constituted a scenario that was “undeniably suspicious of parliamentary initiatives”.
The other ministers of the Supreme Court unanimously endorsed the order against the then president of the Chamber.
Cunha’s removal by the court was decisive for his impeachment, in September 2016, and his subsequent arrest, ordered by then judge Sergio Moro a month later. The former deputy was convicted twice for Lava Jato, but the sentences were annulled years later and the cases are still being processed, now in the Electoral Court.
Hugo Motta was not criminally prosecuted for his role on the commission.
The Petrobras CPI, commanded by him, ended up entering Brasília’s political folklore through circus moments, such as when a parliamentary advisor or when Roberto Carlos’ whistleblower Nelma Kodama gave a statement.
There was also an initiative by Hugo Motta himself to raise doubts about the death of Paraná deputy José Janene (PP-PR), which occurred in 2010. The president of the CPI said he suspected that the deceased parliamentarian, a central figure in the Lava Jato investigations, had not actually died and announced that what ended up not happening.
Cunha has always denied having acted to obstruct investigations by the Petrobras CPI. It said that the commission had the autonomy to approve the questioned initiatives, such as the hiring of the investigation company, and that it only released the budget for this expense.
Among other points, he said that there was persecution by the then attorney general and no evidence was presented that he had interfered in summoning the whistleblowers’ lawyer.
A Sheet He sought out Hugo Motta, through his advisor, to comment on the matter, but received no response. At the time, he also denied that Cunha had any influence on the commission’s progress, although he admitted that he had conversations with the then deputy about the CPI.
