President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) said in June last year that he would remove from his government the Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho, if he was reported. This Tuesday, 8, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR).
At the time, Lula stated that he was still in the procedural rite, which could now become a criminal case if the Supreme Federal Court (STF) decides to accept the complaint.
“What I said to Juscelino: The truth only you know. If the prosecutor indicates you, you know you have to change position. As long as there is no indictment, you are still minister. UOL. Asked directly if there would be the removal in case of acceptance of the indictment, Lula replied that yes. “It will be removed. He knows that.”
Until the publication of this text, the government had not yet positioned itself about the complaint.
How it showed the Estadão column At the time of the indictment, the president demonstrated, behind the scenes, discomfort with the situation. Lula considered, however, that União Brasil should be heard before any decision, as the minister is an appointment of the party. Palatial assistants heard by Column They evaluated that the best way would be the party itself to express interest in the replacement of Juscelino, at least until the end of investigations, thus avoiding Rusgas between the government and the subtitle.
The week after the indictment, Lula praised his minister, stating that he was “happy” to have him in the government. “I always work with the idea that no human being is totally bad, there is also good,” Lula said in an interview with Radio Mirante News FM.
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The case determined by the PF and transformed into a complaint concerns criminal practices allegedly committed by Juscelino during the term as a federal deputy by União Brasil, a party by which he was reelected by Maranhão in 2022.
The investigation that led to the complaint began after reports published by the Estadão. In January 2023, the newspaper revealed that the minister, when deputy, allocated funds from the secret budget to pave a road in the city that was going through his family’s farm.
Among the more than R $ 50 million indicated by the then deputy in secret budget amendments in the House, at least R $ 5 million were destined to asphalt the road that leads to one of its private properties, a farm in Vitorino Freire (MA). The minister’s sister, Luanna Rezende, was a mayor of the municipality of just over 30,000 inhabitants.
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Investigations on the possible diversion of federal funds at the São Francisco and Parnaíba Valleys Company (Codevasf), responsible for the works, was completed in June last year by the PF, which imputed to the minister the crimes of corruption, money laundering and criminal organization.
The complaint, first of Attorney General Paulo Gonet against a member of the first level of the Lula administration, is confidential and is in physical format.
When he was indicted by the Federal Police, the minister denied irregularities and claimed that the investigation “distorted assumptions”.
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In a note on Tuesday, 8, lawyers Ticiano Figueiredo, Pedro Ivo Velloso and Francisco Agosti, who represent the minister, said he “reaffirms his total innocence” and that the offer of the complaint “does not imply guilt.”
“As a federal deputy, in the previous term, Juscelino Filho was merely indicated parliamentary amendments to pay for works for the benefit of the population. The processes of bidding, execution and supervision of these works are the sole competence of the Executive Power, not being the responsibility of the parliamentary who indicated the resources,” says the note.
