Under the management of , the (Attorney General’s Office) decided to prioritize the creation of investigation groups with national operations, under the argument of centralizing and making investigations of crimes involving several states more effective.
Furthermore, the intention is to send the message that the Federal Government — of which the PGR is the administrative headquarters and highest authority — is a single body, despite having state units.
The idea, according to people at the top of the PGR, is to oppose the period in which the Paraná task force was at its peak. The assessment of the body’s leadership is that the prosecutors coordinated by them acted and communicated as if they were a group separate from the Public Ministry.
The PGR’s current understanding is that the country’s main federal investigations must be under the coordination or at least being monitored by the organization’s leadership in Brasília.
Gonet became head of the PGR in 2023, appointed by (PT). On August 27, the president signed his reappointment to the position of Attorney General of the Republic for another two years. His hearing in the Senate, which should approve him for a second term, is scheduled for November 12th.
This year, one was created, which was coordinated by the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic José Adonis Callou de Araújo Sá. The deputy attorney general’s offices are the highest career level in the MPF.
Additionally, two thematic teams were created last year. One of them is a national unit to combat international human trafficking and migrant smuggling, which works on similar cases throughout the country.
The other is called GACCTI (Special Action Group to Combat Cybercrime and Crimes committed through the Use of Information Technologies), which serves as a support team for other prosecutors who are working to investigate crimes ranging from improper access to information to stalking and child pornography on the internet.
Gaeco has 15 members spread across various units of the Federal Public Ministry throughout Brazil, but with its work monitored by coordination in Brasília, and serves as a reinforcement for the so-called “natural prosecutor” – responsible for the investigation – in complex, relevant investigations or that represent some type of risk for the member of the body.
This group can receive and analyze demands to act in investigations carried out by other prosecutors and can also choose investigations that have national relevance to participate in.
The idea is that Gaeco only works on large cases and that there is no service overload for group members.
The prosecutors who are currently part of the team do not work exclusively in these investigations.
It is different, for example, from what happened at the height of Lava Jato, when several task force members were working exclusively in the operation’s processes.
The estimate is that, if an investigation arises that requires this type of dedication, some of the members may have exclusive work.
Gaeco began operating in the middle of this year, after selecting coordinators and its members, and is currently participating in the investigation of around ten cases, which involve drug trafficking and money laundering.
The group can also investigate cases of , but will not participate in investigations related to authorities with special jurisdiction in the STF (Supreme Federal Court), such as deputies and senators, or in the STJ (Superior Court of Justice), such as judges and governors.
In these cases, the responsibility for the investigations lies with the PGR’s own office.
The task forces, replaced by other groups, were provisional. They were under the management of the then Attorney General of the Republic, who commanded the Public Ministry from 2019 to 2023, appointed by the former president (PL).
At the time, the understanding was that these structures were precarious and needed to be replaced by permanent investigation teams. But the initiative was also in line with a speech by Aras against Lava Jato and other anti-corruption operations carried out in MPF units.
The task forces were gradually replaced by — there was still no national Gaeco. Complaints about the lack of structure and institutional support were common at the time.
The creation, this year, of a national Gaeco provoked a fear among the Attorney General’s base that the state groups would be dehydrated. The PGR leadership says that the intention is, yes, for the main cases to be handled by the national group, but that there is no objective of making the other teams precarious.
Gonet, like Aras, was not selected through a triple list chosen by the ANPR (National Association of Public Prosecutors).
But, unlike Aras, it is a name that is more accepted internally and has worked to pacify the various wings of the Federal Public Ministry. Alongside him is Deputy Attorney General Hindemburgo Chateaubriand.
Lula signed Gonet’s reappointment shortly before he made his statement at the trial that condemned former president Jair Bolsonaro for the coup plot after the 2022 election. The president’s aides said that the anticipation gave more strength and legitimacy to the PGR at a time of high political-institutional pressure.
