The Federal District Court rejected the attempt by Enel Brasil and three of the group’s distributors to hold personally responsible the director of Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency), Fernando Mosna, and ordered the case to be sent to the Federal Court.
In the decision which CNN had access, judge Leandro Borges de Figueiredo, from the 8th Civil Court of Brasília, understood that Mosna cannot be processed individually for acts carried out in the exercise of his functions as director of the regulatory agency.
The action was filed by Enel Brasil, Enel São Paulo, Enel Ceará and Ampla Energia (Enel Rio) and requested compensation in the amount of R$607.8 thousand for moral and material damages. The Italian company alleged that the director had exceeded his duties by disclosing information considered confidential and by adopting a partial stance in processes involving the concessionaires.
For the judge, however, the facts described by the companies result from institutional acts, carried out within the scope of public service. “The alleged harmful fact materialized through the issuance of an official document […] substantiating a typical request for information from the concessionaire in the context of a crisis in the provision of public electricity services”, highlighted the judge in his decision
The decision is based on the understanding of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) that actions for damages caused by public agents must be directed against the State, and not against the agent individually. According to the judge, any irregularities must be investigated within the scope of the responsibility of Aneel itself or the Union, and not of the director in isolation.
Furthermore, the judge recognized the incompetence of the Federal District’s common courts to judge the case, as the controversy involves a federal authority. As a result, he ordered the case to be sent to the Federal Court, where it should continue.
The judge also rejected Enel’s request for confidential processingstating that administrative sanctioning processes conducted by regulatory agencies must follow the principle of publicity, as understood by the Federal Supreme Court.
Enel SP’s appeal against expiry will be reported by Mosna
Director Fernando Mosna was the director selected for (National Electric Energy Agency) which initiated a process to analyze the distributor’s contractual expiration.
The draw was held in an extraordinary way on April 28th. On the same date, the agency’s general director, Sandoval Feitosa, denied Enel Distribuição São Paulo’s request to open the administrative process that could lead to the company’s death in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo.
