She waited ten years to publish, last November, a testimonial book about the period in which she was sheriff of the Judiciary (2010-2012).
Time is a “magnificent medicine that makes grudges and sorrows go away”, he says.
“The position that fulfilled me the most was . In it, I went from heaven to hell”, he says.
Eliana rescues several practices that could be discouraged in a , as proposed by minister Edson Fachin, president of the .
The book “Eliana Calmon no – A first-person testimony about the challenges of supervising Justice”, published by Amanuense, contains episodes that citizens may be unaware of or have forgotten.
Unethical examples
The then president of the , Ari Pargendler, called a plenary session, at the request of the then president of the STF, Cezar Peluso, to propose a demonstration in repudiation of the then national inspectorate.
“I wasn’t invited to the meeting, I didn’t even know it was called,” says Eliana.
There was embarrassment. Most refused.
Minister João Otávio de Noronha said at the session that it was “absurd for the court to meet to vote on a note of repudiation without having heard its colleague”.
Noronha confirmed the episode ten years later.
Peluso is a member of the Judiciary.
At the end of his tenure at the STF, . “She got caught up in this ephemeral thing that is appearances in the media.”
Assistant defense judges
The College of Presidents of Courts of Justice, now the Council, a private law association, began to function as a kind of defense assistant for the judges being investigated.
Only 17 years after its installation, the STJ issued the first arrest warrants against members of the judiciary, with the outbreak of the .
When Eliana took the complaint to the Special Court, the then minister Paulo Medina raised the rapporteur’s incompetence to work in the second phase of the process, having collected evidence, with the preventive detention of several defendants.
In 2007, the investigating judge system could not be applied, a model that was not even adopted in 2019 with the anti-crime package.
The proposal was rejected. Medina became lonely.
In 2010, Medina (who died in 2021).
In Operation Navalha, 47 people were arrested. All arrests were revoked by Gilmar Mendes, under the understanding of procedural irregularities.
Eliana criticized Gilmar “for his rude and even unfair style” in granting habeas corpus to defendants arrested by her decision, and publicly criticizing PGR Antonio Fernando, a calm and polite man.
After a long conversation, she received the full support of the current dean.
Skidding outside of cars
The TJ-SP sent a very old kombi to receive the team of internal affairs judges who would begin the inspection into non-compliance with court orders.
The vehicle broke down on the way, the judges had to take a taxi to get to the reserved hotel, on Rua Augusta, above a nightclub. Nobody could sleep.
Ivan Sartori, president of TJ-SP, established a welcoming relationship with the national internal affairs department.
The TJ of Bahia was the first to be inspected, as it was “the worst court in the country” in terms of case backlog.
Former inspector Gilson Dipp said: “For TJ-BA to become bad, it has to improve a lot.”
Who wet the judge’s hand
In a conversation with journalists from the Associação Paulista de Jornais, in 2010, Eliana was asked what problem bothered her most. She stated that an execution had been prevented because one of the parties had “wet the judge’s hand”. The statement generated a strong reaction from the judiciary.
“I responded that I faced very serious problems of corruption in the judiciary and concluded that they were ‘like bandits hiding behind robes’.”
The next day, the newspapers ran the headline “Bandidos de Toga” on the front page.
In a note signed by Peluso, the CNJ called Eliana’s statements “”
In a closed-door meeting at the CNJ with Cezar Peluso and the counselors, Eliana stated that “nothing in the newspaper was untrue” and that her speech had not been widespread.
“I said that there were few corrupt magistrates who ended up demoralizing their colleagues and the institution”, “but I would not refute a single word I said”.
“I went through the first half of 2011 under the hostility of Minister Peluso,” he wrote.
“I noticed, I was silent, I lowered my head and continued on my way, always behaved and attentive and respectful towards a serious, competent man, but, according to my understanding, entirely mistaken regarding the methods used in defense of the judiciary.”
Eliana did not record in the book that the one from São Bernardo do Campo (SP), convicted on charges of extorting businessman José Roberto Ferreira Rivello, 170 times, so as not to convert the judicial recovery of his company into bankruptcy.
He was removed by TJ-SP due to Eliana’s interference. In 2022, unanimously, the Fifth Panel of the STJ denied habeas corpus to Gercino.
Financial inspections
The idea of incursion into the financial area of the courts predates Eliana’s inauguration as magistrate. Gilmar suggested creating a database at the CNJ with all members of the Judiciary.
Eliana admitted that she was unaware of Coaf’s actions. She received a report from the agency requested by her predecessor, Gilson Dipp. “I confess I didn’t understand anything.”
Eliana then studied the possibility of developing property inspection in the Judiciary. He formed a team with employees from the Federal Revenue Service.
The first court in which the financial investigation was tested was that of Mato Grosso do Sul. Numerous judges had uncovered assets (earnings declared insufficient for the investments made).
“I didn’t hide it, but I also didn’t announce it to the press like I always did.” She intended to spare herself after the clashes of the “toga bandits”.
It decided to “continue inspections in states where Coaf indicated that there were atypical or suspicious movements, including São Paulo.”
“The Coaf report did not indicate the names of people or the value of the payments or even the paying body.”
The document only indicated the involvement of more than 3,400 magistrates and Judiciary employees in suspicious operations that totaled R$855.7 million between the years 2000 and 2010, in 22 courts. Atypical movements did not necessarily mean irregularities.
AMB, Anamatra and Ajufe filed a writ of mandamus with the STF with the aim of annulling acts of the internal affairs department, which, in their understanding, broke the confidentiality of data from 216,800 judges and civil servants, in addition to their relatives.
The AJD (Association of Judges for Democracy) was the only entity of magistrates to support Eliana.
Ricardo Lewandowski suspended inspections on the same day. In a statement, the president of OAB-RJ, Wadih Damous, defended the CNJ’s act.
The three associations filed a criminal complaint against Eliana with the PGR. “I confess that, for the first time, I was on the verge of losing control.”
“I didn’t have any documents to prove that I didn’t break anyone’s tax secrecy.”
Eliana called a press conference. He said he was being a victim of “irresponsible” magistrates’ associations. “vehemently the lie of having broken tax secrecy.”
In January 2012, PGR Roberto Gurgel archived the representation of the three associations.
“The internal affairs department could not have released data that it was not aware of, could not have provided the press with confidential information that it never had,” said Gurgel.
Accused of using Coaf data, Eliana says it is absurd.
Ten years of embezzlement
In 2011, Eliana was searched for at her home by a federal judge from TRF-1.
“She was panicking.” As president of Ajufer (brings together judges from the 1st Region), he knew about the loans taken from Poupex/Army Housing Foundation. “As she herself was a user of the transaction, she was unaware of the extent of the default, a fact that was hidden from her by the former president, federal judge Moacir Ferreira Ramos.
During Solange’s management, Moacir was the entity’s treasurer, to whom she delivered signed checkbooks.
Debts were recorded as settled even without payment.
The so-called “toga monthly allowance” was revealed in Sheet.
For ten years, Ajufer signed contracts in the name of phantom associates or used the names and details of judges who were unaware of the fraud.
Of the 800 contracts analyzed at the time, 700 were fraudulent.
FHE filed a lawsuit demanding payment of R$21 million.
Moacir admitted the fraud. He said he did not keep any of the amounts.
The advisory judges observed Moacir’s “coldness and docility”, “typical of the personality of embezzlers”.
Moacir was removed and resigned from the presidency. Minister Marco Aurélio suspended the CNJ decision.
Ajufer directors had
In 2014, by 9 votes to 1, the Special Court rejected the complaint for the loss of the judge’s position. Minister Maria Thereza de Assis Moura, rapporteur, understood that there were no concrete circumstances regarding the judge’s actions in opening the criminal proceedings.
Vote defeated, Minister Rogério Schietti Cruz stated that “there was sufficient evidence” of the judge’s participation in the alleged irregularities.
“This is how the fraud perpetrated at FHE ended, in a frustrating result for the Brazilian justice system, for professionals who, like me, struggled in the face of blatant fraud”, says Eliana.
