Court Shelves Investigation of Election Crime Against Fernando Haddad

By Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Superior Electoral Court (TSE)  decided this week unanimously to file an electoral judicial investigation action against the former candidate for the Presidency by the PT, Fernando Haddad.

The opening of the suit had been filed in 2018 by then-candidate for federal deputy Kim Kataguiri (DEM-SP).

He indicated suspicion that Haddad had used a slush fund, and would not have reported spending R$1.2 million on hiring a research firm.

The case’s rapporteur in the TSE, Minister Jorge Mussi, found that the expenditure was indeed declared.

He emphasized that the technical area of ​​the court “clarified that the investigated [Haddad] registered two expenses on behalf of the company Vox do Brasil Pesquisa, paid via TED in the Banco do Brasil account, totaling R$1,202,006.”

He answered the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPR), which had allowed the filing of the suit.

“The representation was made from a contract invoice that would not have been carried out, and the relationship of the candidate with the company was based on other invoices that were in the collection of account payments, which in fact renders the suit groundless,” said the Deputy Attorney General of Elections, Humberto Jacques.

All other ministers within the Court followed the rapporteur’s vote.

“The objective here, pardon the expression, was to beat an egg white,” said lawyer Eugênio Aragão, who represents Haddad’s campaign.

Fernando Haddad is a Brazilian politician who served as Mayor of São Paulo from 2013 to 2017. He was the Workers’ Party candidate for President of Brazil in the 2018 election, replacing former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose candidacy was barred by the Superior Electoral Court under the Clean Slate law.

Haddad faced Jair Bolsonaro in the run-off of the election and lost the election with 44.87 percent of the votes against the 55.13 percent of Bolsonaro.