There is still a need to vote Edson Fachin, Kassio Nunes Marques and André Mendonça; If another minister of the second class follows, most will be formed
The minister of the Federal Supreme Court () voted to maintain the decision that annulled all acts against former Finance Minister Antonio Palocci. The trial occurs in the Virtual Plenary of the Second Class of the Supreme Court and analyzes a appeal from the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) against the annulment previously determined by the minister. The score is in two votes in favor of maintaining the annulment. The class president Edson Fachin and the ministers Kassio Nunes Marques and André Mendonça is still missing. If one more minister accompanies Toffoli and Mendes, most will be formed, consolidating the decision.
The trial is expected to terminate on April 4, except for requests of view (more time for analysis) or prominent (when the case can be taken to the physical plenary). In his decision, Toffoli considered that there was a bias in the performance of the former judge and the Lava Jato prosecutors, compromising due process. The understanding follows the line of previous STF judgments that canceled proceedings due to the suspicion of the conduct of investigations and judgments in the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba.
“I declare the absolute nullity of all acts committed to the detriment of the applicant in the context of procedures linked to Operation Lava Jato,” the minister said in his vote. He stressed that prosecutors and judges ignored principles such as contradictory and broad defense, acting with personal and political motivations. Despite the annulment of Lava Jato acts, Palocci’s award-winning plea agreement was maintained, as well as fines stipulated to whistleblowers such as and Leo Pinheiro, former executives of large contractors.
PGR, through Attorney General Paulo Gonet, argues that Palocci’s request “is not supported by concrete procedural addictions or in the absence of just cause” and only seeks to detach him from a set of “autonomous, valid and robust evidence”. According to Gonet, cancellations should be made individually, not widespread, not to compromise the state’s ability to punish crimes such as corruption and money laundering. The Attorney General also stressed that the judiciary has already reviewed Lava Jato excesses, but that this does not justify the invalidation of legally valid evidence.
Antonio Palocci was arrested in 2016 during Operation Lava Jato, in the Omertà phase. He left the arrest in 2018, upon payment of a fine of R $ 37 million, and signed an award -winning agreement. In recent years, the Supreme Court has revised several Lava Jato decisions, including the one that has annulled convictions of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, based on the incompetence of the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba to judge the cases. Similar decisions also benefited ex-executives of contractors involved in the investigations.
Posted by Felipe Dantas
*Report produced with the aid of AI
