The mayor of, Eduardo Siqueira Campos (Somos), said in a recording obtained by the Federal Police who received from a Minister of (Superior Court of Justice) leaked information from an inquiry that was being processed in the Court.
The statement appears in the transcription of a call between the mayor and a lawyer. The conversation is cited in a decision of the Supreme Court (Supreme Court) which he authorized.
In the dialogue, he mentions a meeting with STJ Minister João Otávio de Noronha, “15 or 18 years ago” in Brasilia. Siqueira Campos says on the call that he received from the magistrate an alert.
“He said to me, ‘Siqueira, just to warn your father that four judges will be removed,” he says, in the transcription by the Federal Police. The current mayor’s father is former Tocantins governor José Wilson Siqueira Campos, killed in 2023.
“There were four away. This Noronha called me in Brasilia and called me in a reserved and said ‘Siqueira, I love your father, I’m sure, I read the file, there is nothing about him, but we will have to ward off these four.’
On the call, the mayor cites Judges, who found suspicions of a court decision -up scheme in the state and was triggered in December 2010. The Maet was reported by Noronha.
Sought, Siqueira Campos said in a statement that “did not have access to the case file, which is confidentially determined by the Federal Supreme Court” and that, “Given this fact, it is prevented from making any comment on the subject.”
Minister João Otávio de Noronha, also wanted, said that “he did not attend the alleged meeting in which he had warned about Operation Maet and has no personal or professional relationships with the mayor.”
A person who attended the meeting in Brasilia stated, reserved, that he would have occurred in 2011, during a public event, and that the operation had already been launched, not containing sensitive information.
He also pointed out that, at the time of the operation, the current mayor’s father was not in government. He had already been elected and took office in 2011.
An investigation under the rapporteur of the Minister in the Supreme Court deals with eventual, reported by STJ Ministers Mauro Campbell and João Otávio de Noronha. Ministers are not investigated.
Zanin’s decision authorized the search and seizure against the mayor of Palmas took place on the 30th, on the ninth phase of Operation Sisamnes, which investigated suspicions of leakage and sale of STJ decisions.
In addition to the mayor and headquarters of the City Hall, searches were held in the prison where Thiago Barbosa de Carvalho, nephew of the state governor, Wanderlei Barbosa (Republicans), who is not the target of the operation.
Thiago Barbosa was the interlocutor of Siqueira Campos on the phone call by PF. His lawyer, Luiz Francisco Oliveira, says his client was used and only had access to information when he contacted lawyer Michelangelo Cervi Corsetti, appointed by the mayor.
Michelangelo has also been the target of precautionary measures, suspected of passing on confidential information from inquiries in the STJ. The report did not find the lawyer.
In the arm of the Tocantins operation, (which investigates sales of court decisions at the Tocantins Court of Justice and is reported by Noronha) and fabrics-19 (which leans on alleged state government deviations during the pandemic and is reported by Campbell).
In addition to decreeing precautionary searches and measures, Zanin also determined in his decision the issuance of office to STJ President Herman Benjamin, requesting data sharing such as access logins and moving history of both operations.
He also requested the sharing of the List of Public Servants, permanent or ceded, of Noronha and Campbell offices since January 2024, with full name, email and telephone.
The operations cited were triggered in August 2019, and investigators suspect that information about them had been circulating with targets since June.
“As it is possible to see, at least on 6/26/2024, José Eduardo de Siqueira Campos was aware of details of the investigation related to Operation ‘Maximus’ and passed on to Thiago,” says Zanin, in his decision.
According to the minister, “there are three very significant elements, indicative of the improper anticipation of confidential information”, in which the mayor “informs the condition of investigated by Thiago”, “indicates the moment when the operation” and “concretely suggests the targets of the operation, which, in fact, occurred”.
In addition to the conversation with the mayor of Palmas, Thiago also spoke in June with one of the judges who was the target of the operation.
Police found on the computer used by the governor’s nephew, who worked as an advisor to a Tocantins attorney, archives of both operations. The equipment was seized for data extraction and detailed analysis – the material download on the computer had been done after operations, not before.
At the time, Noronha stated that he would ask for internal investigation about eventual leakage, and Campbell says that Governor Wanderlei Barbosa did not take prior knowledge that he would be the target of search and seizure.
