Criminal lawyer Celso Vilardi warned about the risks of procedural nullity caused by the leak of confidential information from former banker Daniel Vorcaro’s plea bargain. During an interview with the program WWVilardi emphasized that the main care at this time must be to contain the leaks that have occurred frequently.
“I think that at first what seems fundamental to me is to contain leaks. We live in an absolutely polarized country and, with this whole issue of social media, we need to remember that,” said Vilardi.
The criminalist emphasized that the simple fact that a person is mentioned in a statement does not mean automatic guilt. “The fact that a person is reported, appears in a statement, does not mean that they are guilty. The State will have to corroborate this, validate this, prove this, to take someone to a trial and, finally, to a conviction”, he explained.
Risks of procedural nullity
When asked if the process was involved, Vilardi was emphatic: “The leak of the annex, if caused by any of the agents obliged to secrecy, could result in an annulment.” Although he expressed skepticism about the possibility of annulment, as there was no precedent, the lawyer expressed concern about the extent of the leaks.
“We were surprised by the overwhelming way in which the incident occurred, in this case, which is regrettable”, criticized the criminalist. Vilardi agreed with Minister Gilmar Mendes’ position on the seriousness of the situation, although he disagreed with the comparison made with the Lava Jato operation.
The lawyer also recalled that, according to legislation, information that is not relevant to the investigation should be destroyed. “The law says that issues that are not of interest to the investigation must be destroyed. In other words, this evidence could not even be preserved, it should have been destroyed”, concluded Vilardi, reinforcing the need for greater rigor in complying with procedural secrecy to guarantee the legitimacy of investigations.
