Supremo vai decidir futuro do ministro Paulo Medina: The Brazilian Supreme Court will decide this week whether to accept the indictment of a federal judge accused of selling a judicial verdict in favor of the Rio gambling mafia for R$1 million.
The federal police busted a whole bunch of lawyers and judges for providing liquidity to this black market in justice during the so-called Operation Hurricane. See, for example,
It will be interesting to see how Chief Justice Mendes votes in the case. In recent ex parte remarks to the press, he said, in effect, that federal police efforts against organized crime during the tenure of Paulo Lacerda as director have tended to be sensationalist, politicized, media-driven empty shows of efficiency that brought no real results, in terms of convictions. Seriously.
The Hurricane case was as sensationalist and media-driven as they come. The agent in charge went on Globo’s Sunday infotainment newsmagazine Fantástico to boast about the case, for example (see above).
The policeman used the spotlight to lay a real bombshell on the Globo journalists: He said that the competitive parades for Carnaval 2007 (Globo has the exclusive worldwide broadcast rights) had been rigged, a fact discovered during the Hurricane investigations.
- Brazil: Hurricane Blows Lid Off Hummingbird Hype?
- Rio: “Carnaval Judging System Was Tom(Jobim)foolery-Proof!”
Now, finally, a chance to see whether the judge who allegedly took R$1 million from the mob can get a fair trial after being perp-walked in humiliating wise by TV Globo — as Daniel Dantas and Celso Pitta also recently were, to the outrage of Mendes — or whether Mendes will be true to his public statements and let his toga’d colleague off the hook.
O plenário do Supremo Tribunal Federal vai decidir, em sessões extraordinariamente secretas, marcadas para amanhã e quinta-feira, se recebe a denúncia do Ministério Público Federal contra o ministro do Superior Tribunal de Justiça Paulo Medina – afastado de suas funções desde julho do ano passado – acusado de negociar – por intermédio do irmão Virgílio, que é advogado – uma decisão liminar que liberou 900 máquinas caça-níqueis apreendidas em Niterói, em troca de propina de R$ 1 milhão.
The full panel of the Supreme Court will rule, in extraordinary secret sessions scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, whether to accept the indictment handed down by the federal prosecutor against Paulo Medina, a justice of the [federal circuit court of appeals] — suspended since July of last year — who is accused of negotiating through his brother, attorney Virgilio Medina, an injunction that released 900 “nickel-hunter” gambling devices seized by police in Niterói in exchange for a bribe of R$1 million.
A lower court had ordered the prosecutions be conducted publicly.
A denúncia foi formalizada em abril do ano passado. Se for acolhida, o ministro passa à condição de réu em ação penal, no foro privilegiado do STF, onde já era investigado em inquérito sigiloso aberto em 30/8/2006, sob a relatoria do ministro Cezar Peluso.
Formal charges were filed in April 2007. If the indictment is accepted, the judge will become a defendant in a criminal trial in the “privileged forum” of the Supreme Court, where he has already been investigated in a confidential proceeding opened on 30 August 2006 presided over by Justice Peluso.
De acordo com a Secretaria de Comunicação do STF, o Regimento Interno da Corte prevê que, em casos de inquéritos em que haja provas mantidas sob sigilo, as sessões podem ser secretas, por determinação do presidente.
According to the court’s press office, the internal rules of the court provide that sessions may be closed, by determination of the chief justice, in cases where evidence is under seal.
O ministro Cezar Peluso – além de relator do inquérito – ocupa interinamente a presidência do STF, já que o ministro Gilmar Mendes está na Alemanha, de onde só retorna amanhã. O regimento baseia-se na Lei 8.038/90, que regulamentou o inciso 9 do artigo 93 da Constituição:
Justice Peluso, besides being the judge in charge of the case, is the interim chief justice while Mendes is in Germany, from where he will return tomorrow. The rule is based on Federal Law No. 8,038 (1990), which regulates Paragraph 9 of Article 93 of the Constitution.
“Todos os julgamentos dos órgãos do Poder Judiciário serão públicos, e fundamentadas todas as decisões, sob pena de nulidade, podendo a lei, se o interesse público o exigir, limitar a presença, em determinados atos, às próprias partes e a seus advogados, ou somente a estes”.
“All proceedings of the Judiciary will be pubic and all rulings publicly justified, on pain of nullification, although the law may, if the public interest demands it, limit attendance at some proceedings to the parties and their attorneys …”
O suposto envolvimento de magistrados no comércio de decisões para beneficiar a chamada máfia dos caça-níqueis, no Rio de Janeiro e em São Paulo, tornou-se público com a deflagração, em 13 de abril do ano passado, da Operação Furacão, da Polícia Federal. Foram indiciados – além do ministro Paulo Medina e de seu irmão – os desembargadores Carreira Alvim e Siqueira Regueira, do Tribunal Regional Federal da 2ª Região; o juiz Ernesto Dória, do Tribunal Regional do Trabalho de Campinas; e João Sérgio Leal Pereira, procurador regional da República no Rio de Janeiro. O desembargador Regueira morreu, em julho último.
The alleged involvement of magistrates in the peddling of judicial rulings to benefit the “nickel-hunter” mafia in Rio and São Paulo became public last year during Operation Hurricane. Indicted, along with Medina and his brother, were senior judges Carreira Alvim and Siqueira Regueira of the TRF; judge Dória of the TRT of Campinas; and Leal Pereira, regional federal prosecutor for Rio. Judge Regueira died last July.
This is not accurate. The São Paulo case was a separate inquiry, known as Operation Themis.
Na Operação Furacão (Hurricane), foram presas 25 pessoas, nos Estados do Rio, São Paulo, Bahia e no Distrito Federal, entre as quais juízes, contraventores de jogos de azar, policiais, e empresários. Foram mantidos no inquérito em curso no STF os magistrados e o procurador, já que o principal agente público implicado – o ministro do STJ – tem prerrogativa do foro do Supremo, por prerrogativa de função.
In the Hurricane case, 25 persons were arrested in Rio, São Paulo, Bahia and Brasilia, among them four judges, gambling racketeers, police, and business owners. The case currently underway at the Supreme Court includes the judges and the prosecutor, given that the principal figure in the case, the justice of the STJ, has the right to a privileged forum in the Supreme Court.
If he drives drunk and kills your dog, only the Supreme Court can fine the guy.
A denúncia do procurador-geral da República, Antonio Fernando de Souza, enquadra-os em crimes de formação de quadrilha, corrupção passiva e prevaricação. Na época, ele disse ter “convicção” de que todas as pessoas contra as quais ofereceu denúncia ao STF “cometeram delitos, e espero, portanto, que sejam responsabilizados”.
The indictment handed down by federal attorney Souza … yada yada
O ministro Paulo Medina foi afastado do exercício do cargo pelo Conselho Nacional de Justiça, em 31 de julho do ano passado, em processo administrativo, enquanto durarem o inquérito e a provável ação penal.
Yada yada.
More contemporary TV coverage of the Hurricane case below. The entire extent of Globo’s “journalism” in the case was editing footage provided to it by official sources, with a dramatic voiceover.
Globo: World leader in cheesy infotainment.
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