The outbreak of operations involving the diversion of public resources has further soured the already troubled relationship between Congress, the government and the STF (Supreme Federal Court). Representatives from the center hold the government responsible, for example, for advancing investigations into the direction of parliamentary amendments and threaten to retaliate in end-of-year votes.
This Friday (12), the PF carried out search and seizure warrants targeting (PP-AL). The operation, called Transparency, was authorized by the minister, who has experienced clashes with deputies and senators over transparency and the execution of parliamentary amendments to the Budget.
Complaints are not restricted to investigations directly linked to budget execution. They also include investigations into Banco Master and Grupo Fit (formerly Refit), whose owners maintain relationships with managers from the center and who have become targets of some of the attacks.
Accusations about the direction of the investigations and their political use in campaigns on social media led PP to bring forward the decision of .
In September, the two parties determined that members with mandates should hand over their positions, after the president of Progressistas (), senator, held Lula’s assistants responsible for spreading suspicions that businessmen involved with the PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) had paid him bribes.
Nogueira denied this and accused “Lula’s hate office” of being behind the information.
Pointing out the government’s participation in these actions, parliamentarians sent their suspicions and complaints about alleged political direction in the investigations to Palácio do Planalto. They claim that Lula would have been the target of the same procedure during the Lava Jato operation, when the Public Ministry and the then judge Sergio Moro were accused of directing investigations against the government and agreeing on their line of action – which led the STF to annul the convictions.
In response, the president’s collaborators claim that they have no control over the course of operations under the responsibility of the PF. These allies also tend to argue that the government does not exert any influence over Dino or any other STF minister, and remember that Moraes was not even nominated by President Lula – the choice was made by former President Michel Temer (MDB), with the approval of the PSDB.
One of those who made public their criticism of the leak of information about operations recently was the leader of the PP in the Chamber, deputy Dr Luizinho Teixeira (RJ). In , he stated that there are actions to undermine the image of parliamentarians and wear them down electorally. “People have learned to use the Judiciary to intimidate Parliament. We are being intimidated daily,” he said.
Rapporteur for the appointment of Jorge Messias as minister of the STF, senator Weverton Rocha (PDT-MA) also stated that one of the reasons for resistance to the minister of the AGU (Attorney General of the Union) for the vacancy is concern about investigations that have affected politicians.
“There is a warmer climate in the political class due to complaints about excesses in investigations. We are on the eve of an election that, unfortunately, will be polarized again. And everyone is using whatever instruments they can to tighten the rope”, said the PED supporter, in an interview with the newspaper O Globo.
The deputy leader of the government in , Otto Alencar (PSD-BA), defends the investigation into deviations with parliamentary amendments and refutes the accusation that the government is criminalizing the amendments. For him, generalization damages the image of the Legislature. “Whoever made a mistake, used public resources for their own benefit, must be punished. Zero complaints”, he says.
Minister Alexandre de Moraes’ decision to declare the Chamber session that maintained the mandate of deputy Carla Zambelli (PL-SP) unconstitutional and order that she be revoked due to her conviction in court, was another fact that increased tension between the Powers.
In the opinion of deputies, this weakens the mandates and paves the way for, in the next processes, the procedure to also be the automatic loss of the position. The First Panel of the STF is expected to judge, in March, the alleged diversion of resources from parliamentary amendments by PL deputies from Maranhão, in the first high-profile trial since the amendments entered the center of the political debate.
Furthermore, Dino said last week ADIs (Direct Actions of Unconstitutionality) that question the existence of them and that he will ask the President of the Court, Edson Fachin, to open space on the agenda for judgment by the plenary. This device obliges the government to pay the resources directed by congressmen.
It was in this environment that the president of the Chamber, (-PB), voted on a project to reduce the sentences of those convicted of acts against democracy, including the former president.
Coordinator of the Prerogativas group and friend of the president, lawyer Marco Aurélio Carvalho says that Lula should veto the proposal entirely – which could cause new conflicts with Congress. “It is a purely case-by-case project. It was made to order, with the sole and exclusive interest of benefiting those who acted to compromise our current electoral system, to compromise democracy and the rigidity of our institutions to benefit coup plotters,” he said.
