Prosecutor General’s Office Opposes Flávio Bolsonaro’s Request to Halt Kickback Investigation

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The PGR’s opinion, signed by deputy prosecutor general Roberto Luís Opperman Thomé, was submitted to the Federal Superior Court (STJ) on Sunday, October 4th, and will be analyzed by the Fifth Panel of the Court.

Attorneys for President Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son petitioned the court to overturn all of Judge Flávio Itabaiana de Oliveira Nicolau’s decisions from the 27th Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro, in the context of the investigations, including the search and seizure warrants and the bank, tax and telephone secrecy breaches that affected Flávio and dozens of others under investigation, such as former advisor Fabrício Queiroz.

Queiroz is accused by the Rio de Janeiro state Prosecutor’s Office as responsible for operating the alleged kickback scheme of misappropriation of salaries of ghost servants in the then deputy’s office in the ALERJ.

Recognizing Flávio Bolsonaro’s privileged jurisdiction in the salary kickback case in June, the Third Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro decided that Itabaiana could not remain in charge of the case, which then came under the jurisdiction of the Special Body of the TJ-RJ, comprised of 25 judges. However, the collegiate body ratified the decisions of the first instance judge in the investigation, including the breaches of confidentiality, which he ordered in April 2019.

In his opinion, the deputy prosecutor general maintains that the Third Criminal Court’s decision to grant the senator a special jurisdiction conflicted with Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Marco Aurélio Mello’s decision in February 2019. At the time, Marco Aurélio acknowledged Itabaiana’s jurisdiction over the salary kickback case.

On the point challenged by Flávio’s defense, namely the invalidation of the investigations, the deputy prosecutor agrees with the Third Court and states that the panel’s understanding is “in harmony with current domestic case law on the matter in similar cases with respect to not recognizing the court’s lack of jurisdiction in itself as invalidating preliminary decisions, given that the relevant authority, upon receiving the action, may ratify such decisions.”

Opperman Thomé also says he understands that Flávio’s defense “has not shown any impairment” that would require recognizing the annulment of the case.

As judge Felix Fischer, rapporteur of the case in the STJ, had already denied an injunction from Flavio Bolsonaro’s attorneys to annul the investigations, the substance of the appeal will now be analyzed by the Fifth Panel of the Court, composed of five judges. There is still no date set for the decision.

Source: Veja