Cármen Lúcia closes investigation against STF’s ministers
On Thursday (06/21), the President of the Brazilian Supreme Court, Justice Cármen Lúcia, announced during a plenary session that she will order the closure of a process that investigated possible illegal conduct by justices of the Court. The investigation was launched after the discovery of an audio recording in which businessman Joesley Batista mentioned alleged illicit conduct by members of the Court.
The decision of the justice is based on a report from the Federal Police, which was sent to her on Monday (06/18). In the recording that triggered the investigation, Joesley was talking to former JBS executive Ricardo Saud, who reported a conversation with a third person who supposedly had “five Supreme Court justices in his hand.” The names of justices Cármen Lúcia, Gilmar Mendes, and Ricardo Lewandowski are mentioned in the recording.
Saud also suggested recording a conversation with former Dilma Rousseff government minister José Eduardo Cardozo to obtain compromising information about the justices. The conversation was recorded, but no such information was passed on.
In a statement on Thursday (06/21), Cármen Lúcia stated that, during the investigation, no evidence was found “to demonstrate any participation of Supreme Court justices involved in any illegal act.”
According to Cármen Lúcia, due to the importance of the Supreme Court in maintaining democracy, “there could be no slightest doubt about the conduct of those who are part of this Supreme Court.” “Mere news or supposed information [of illegality] had to be cleared of any doubt, and that is precisely what the Director of the Federal Police is now passing on to us,” she continued.
Finally, she stated that “there is no doubt that any information extracted from any document about the conduct of Supreme Court justices” was found.
In the same report that cleared the justices, the Federal Police also indicted businessman Joesley Batista and former prosecutor Marcelo Miller for corruption. During the investigation, the police found evidence that the then-member of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) favored the businessman during the plea bargaining negotiations with the MPF.
In addition to Cármen Lúcia, the document was also sent to Justice Edson Fachin, the rapporteur of the Lava Jato Operation at the Supreme Court.
Source: Metrópoles
