Supreme Court Panel Overturns Conviction by Moro in Banestado Bank Case

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Second Panel of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) yesterday ruled to overturn, on technical grounds, the conviction of a black-market money dealer found guilty of involvement in an alleged fraud scheme by the former Bank of the State of Paraná (Banestado), in a case tried by the then Judge Sérgio Moro.

The STF panel, by a 2 -2 tie vote, granted an appeal by black-market money dealer Paulo Roberto Krug, who had challenged Moro’s permission to hear testimony regarding Alberto Youssef’s denunciation after the defense’s closing arguments.

Two of the Second Panel Justices – Edson Fachin and Carmen Lucia – voted to reject the appeal, while two Justices – Gilmar Mendes and Ricardo Lewandowski – voted to grant the appeal. The fifth Panel member, Justice Celso de Mello, is on medical leave and did not participate in the decision. Because the vote was a tie, the Panel decided in favor of the defendant, as provided by law.

The two Justices who voted to overturn Krug’s sentence did so because they believed Moro was biased in allowing the production of evidence after the defense’s closing arguments.

“The judge exceeded his role of mere endorser (of the plea bargaining) and acted as a partner of the prosecution in the production of evidence that would be used as grounds for the sentence,” said Mendes.

Justice Lewandowski, who voted last, went beyond the facts of the particular case in his opinion and reiterated one of his customary criticisms of Moro by stating that ‘very strange things’ occurred in Curitiba and that it is up to the Supreme Court to ‘take a closer look’ at what happened ‘in certain cases’. He noted that an impartial judge is ‘more serious than corruption’ and can lead to authoritarianism.

Moro defends his actions

In a note, Moro defended his action in the case and said that he always acted “with impartiality, balance, discretion, and ethics, as any magistrate must act”.

“In this particular case, I merely used the supplementary evidence powers provided in articles 156, II, and 404 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, ordering the attachment of the supporting documents required for the judgment of the case. It was a legal practice, recognized and confirmed by the TRF4 and the Superior Court of Justice, and now it has been confirmed by a divided decision by the STF that favors the convict,” said Moro, who was President Jair Bolsonaro’s first Minister of Justice.

Source: UOL