Nelson Azevedo Jobim, considered the most influential former president of the Federal Supreme Court, does not comment on Minister Edson Fachin’s proposal to establish one.
Jobim was the target of accusations from jurists and magistrates for controversial acts and decisions that would possibly have been inhibited if there had been a code of ethics at the time.
“Among the five former presidents of the STF who defend the desirability of a code of conduct (, , Ayres Britto, and Carlos Velloso), none was famous for their presence in farofas”, he stated in December.
Former STF president Antonio Cezar Peluso signed the agreement in which 25 experts asked Fachin for a code of ethics.
For former Dean Celso de Mello, “not everything that is legal is morally legitimate”.
He deems it necessary to have a code of conduct “that acts as a preventive, guiding and pedagogical instrument, and not as a late response to crises of legitimacy”.
The minister, rapporteur of the Master case, hampered the investigation and Jobim became closer to the imbroglio due to operations between BTG and the bank.
In 2016, Jobim became a partner and advisor at André Esteves’ BTG Pactual bank, with the purpose of recovering the image of the institution and that of the banker, one of the prisoners.
Jobim acted as one of the main consultants in the defenses of contractors accused in this operation.
Today, the former minister is heard as a kind of spokesperson for Faria Lima.
Jobim was one of the coordinators of the project “Oral History of the Supreme Court”, an initiative by FGV Direito Rio that interviewed ministers and former ministers of the STF. His testimony was the longest (9 hours and 46 minutes). Retired minister Joaquim Barbosa refused to speak to FGV.
When asked whether Jobim would like to comment on Fachin’s proposal, FSB Comunicação, BTG Pactual’s press office, did not respond.
Controversial decisions
Jobim was accused of favoring the , the and the PMDB (in which he had a political career).
In 2003, he stated that two Federal articles were not voted on by constituents. Jurist Celso Antônio Bandeira de Mello demanded that the then president of , Rubens Approbato Machado, impeach the minister for lack of decorum.
Jurist Dalmo de Abreu Dallari saw “a very serious moral deviation” from the minister. “That should be enough for him to be removed from the Supreme Court,” he said.
The then federal judge and now STF minister defended Jobim: “The idea that he could be held responsible as STF minister for events in which he participated 15 years earlier, while exercising his parliamentary mandate, is absurd, politically and legally.” Dino was Jobim’s advisor in the presidency of . The fact was highlighted by , former CNJ advisor, during Dino’s inauguration at the Supreme Court.
Approbato rejected three representations against Jobim.
Jobim suspended the processing of disciplinary measures against parliamentarians involved in the . The . Pedro Estevam Serrano, professor of constitutional law at PUC-SP, considered the decision “absolutely correct”.
“In fact, there was an error on the part of the Legislature, which did not respect the right to defense,” said Serrano.
Jobim rejected the opening of (PT-SP), requested by the then Geraldo Brindeiro, in the case of the murder of Celso Daniel, mayor of Santo André (SP).
Doctor João Francisco Daniel, Celso Daniel’s brother, accused Dirceu of receiving bribes from municipal authorities.
Jobim considered the information collected in the investigation inconsistent.
In 2005, a “” was published by 60 magistrates from Rio Grande do Sul. They suggested that Jobim resign as president of the STF or rule out the possibility of running for President of the Republic.
The document was headed by the judge and current judge Newton Fabrício, from TJ-RS.
Jobim was accused of “defying the ethical standard that should guide the conduct of a judge” by speaking at the inauguration of a law firm.
Jobim did not comment on the manifesto. The then minister. He did not see “acts, facts, procedures or behaviors that could give rise to any legal action.”
Stones on the way
The political scientist, researcher of the Judiciary, considers any political-partisan attitude of judges to be criticizable and harmful to the judiciary.
“But, by clearly assuming that he wanted to reform the Judiciary. He led the creation of Judiciary statistics, he led discussions about the reform. At the CNJ, he faced the problem.”
Sadek is part of the group created by the São Paulo section of the OAB (Brazilian Bar Association).
The commission supports the code of conduct proposed by .
Sadek drew attention to the fact that rejection of nepotism is very high in the Judiciary.
“Jobim led the way by saying that it is up to the Public Prosecutor’s Office to monitor, that complaints be made,” he said.
In 2019, the judge, daughter-in-law of Nelson Jobim, and daughter of minister Ilmar Galvão, former president of the Superior Electoral Court, was chosen for the CNJ.
His name met with resistance from ten ministers of the Citizenship Court. Candice had been an assistant judge to minister João Otávio de Noronha in the presidency of the STJ and in the national internal affairs department.
There were no personal restrictions on the judge, but the understanding that the court should not appoint judges who worked on the court so as not to break the principle of equality, a criterion adopted in 2015.
What could have been a way to reach the collegiate was eliminated by Toffoli, who revoked the quarantine of auxiliary judges of the Supreme Court and higher courts to compete for the position of advisor to the CNJ.
Toffoli mainly benefited his friend, a TJ-SP judge, who lived in Brasília and worked simultaneously in the national internal affairs department; in the office of minister Luis Felipe Salomão, at the STJ, and at the São Paulo court, from which he received housing assistance.
Candice took office at the CNJ in September 2019. The following month, Jobim took office as a tribute for the minister’s ten years at the STF.
He stated that Toffoli “has history as the basis of his conduct; he is a great conciliator”.
Dias Toffoli and the former minister contributed to the emptying of the CNJ.
The hybrid minister
Jobim’s prestige and strong lobbying with the three Powers and the three Arms created the image of “general solver of the Republic”.
“Minister of Defense and Justice, Jobim spent nine years at the Federal Supreme Court and ten in Congress. He is the perfect hybrid”, .
Jobim surpassed Dias Toffoli in his effort to please the military. He wore Army and Air Force field clothes. Simulated driving armored combat vehicles and piloting aircraft.
Wearing uniform, he participated in a humanitarian mission in Haiti, where years earlier he served in the UN peacekeeping mission led by coup general Augusto Heleno, now under house arrest.
In 2021, when Jobim hosted a dinner at his home.
It brought together, among others, Dias Toffoli, generals Fernando Azevedo, former head of Defense (who Toffoli had appointed as an advisor to the presidency of the STF), and Sérgio Etchegoyen, from the Institutional Security Office.
Among the guests was banker André Esteves (from BTG Pactual).
As another Jobim, maestro Tom, would say, “Brazil is not for beginners”.
