Brasília | “For Our Friends, Anything; For Our Enemies, The Law”

Portal ClippingMP reproduces the report from the Correio Braziliense.

Those federal prosecutors accused of taking part in a massive corruption scheme in the Federal District were ousted by the external disciplinary body of the federal prosecutorial corps.

The new matter to be taken up by  CNMP is Bandarra’s alleged interference in the work of prosecutor Mauro Faria de Lima. In May 2009, Bandarra, still serving as attorney-general of the district, met with Faria de Lima and Governor Arruda to deal with Faria’s investigation of the commandant of the district military police, Antônio Cerqueira. The senior officer was accused of misconduct in the selection of the firm hired to renew the police force’s fleet of vehicles..

At Arruda’s request, Bandarra tried to convince Mauro Faria to avoid filing charges on the eve of the police force’s bicentennial celebration. Mauro de Lima testified to the  CNMP that Bandarra interferned unduly in his work.The episode generated a criminal investigation and will be taken up by the CNMP starting today..

Another matter for the  CNMP involves charges that Bandarra and Deborah Guerner tried to extort Governor Arruda. The two prosecutors allegedly teamed up against the governor. In July 2009, four months before Operation Pandora’s Box, Deborah supposedly demanded R$ 2 million from Arruda in exchange for losing the videotape in which he appears taking cash from Durval Barbosa, the key informant in the case. .

Bandarra’s attorney, Gabriela Benfica, read into into evidence passages from the document filed by Arruda himself with the  CNMP in which the ex-governor accuses Deborah and clears Bandarra. “I was shaken down by Deborah. Period. Of this I have no doubt,”  Arruda said. Regarding Bandarra, his statement was qute different: “My relationship with Bandarra was always exceedingly proper.”

In another excerpt, Arruda claims he met with Deborah Guerner at the request of his vice-governor, Paulo Octávio, and Durval Barbosa. “I received insistent requests from both of them to meet with Deborah.”The ex-governor also said that the meeting with the prosecutor, during which he was allegedly blackmailed, went very baldly — “the worst meeting I ever had as governor.”  Marcelo Carvalho, a former executive of  Paulo Octávio Empreendimentos — a firm owned by the vice-governor – was charged along with Bandarra and Deborah Guerner by federal prosecutor Ronaldo Albo. The criminal cases are being heard by the Federal Regional Court for the First Region .

POE just happens to own the major TV station in the Federal District — whose content was hosted by the Web site of the Correio Braziliense.

Nice synergy if you can achieve it.