Justice Gilmar Mendes Suspends Lava Jato Action Over Use of COAF Data
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Wednesday, August 14th, Federal Supreme Court (STF) justice Gilmar Mendes granted a request from the former head of the Rio de Janeiro’s State Highway Department, Lineu Castilho, and ordered the suspension of a criminal action in which the former governor of Rio de Janeiro, Sérgio Cabral, is also a defendant.
The decision was initially construed as also benefiting Cabral, since it ordered the “suspension of the course of the procedure”. However, in a second letter sent to the Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro, the STF’s Secretariat announced that “the decision is only effective for the plaintiff”, Lineu Castilho.
Mendes relied on a decision by the STF’s presiding justice Dias Toffoli, who in July ordered the suspension of all cases that required the sharing of tax and banking information of suspects without prior court consent.
In the case examined by Gilmar, investigators used information from a report issued by the Council for the Control of Financial Activities (COAF). Lineu is charged with collecting bribes for Cabral from construction companies that held contracts with the state body.
“I grant the claim to order the suspension of the course of the procedure,” said Gilmar Mendes in closing his ruling, without clarifying whether or not it would affect other co-defendants in the case.
This is the first suspension of a Lava Jato investigation based on the individual opinion of the Presiding Justice. Justice Gilmar Mendes is the Court rapporteur for Lava Jato cases in Rio de Janeiro.
The case against Lineu Castilho will be suspended until the full STF rules on whether to confirm, amend or suspend Dias Toffoli’s decision.
Gilmar cited considerations preceding Toffoli’s ruling, when stating that the full STF had decided in the past that “access to banking transactions is limited to identifying the holders of such transactions and the overall funds transacted monthly, that is, general data and account holders’ records, not including any element that would allow identifying the source or the type of expenses effected based on such funds.”
In his opinion, the COAF report provided information on the source, type, and purpose of the transactions carried out by the defendants, in addition to the bank account details.
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