Débora Zampier Reporter Agencia Brasil
Brasilia – This week the Brazilian Supreme Court began judging the second part of the sixth chapter of Penal Case 470, the mensalão, in which a total of ten defendants are charged with active corruption and other crimes (in the first part of this chapter, thirteen defendants were charged with passive corruption and other crimes). The importance of chapter six is that it encompasses the heart of the crime; that is, vote buying in Congress. Consequently, many of the defendants are politicians (at the time the mensalão scandal became public in 2005, three of the accused were ministers and eleven were federal deputies).
Leading the court along a path laid out by federal prosecutors, the justice-relator, Joaquim Barbosa, has been following the money up to this point. But in the sixth chapter of Penal Case 470, the money reaches its destination. According to Barbosa, the people who facilitated the flow of the money into Congress are guilty of active corruption and those people were PT leaders, along with others in advertising agencies and banks.
In the end, Barbosa condemned eight out of the ten accused and his votes were followed by justices Rosa Weber and Luiz Fux. As a result, at the end of the session yesterday, Thursday, October 4, there were 3 votes for condemnation of the former presidential Chief of Staff (“Casa Civil”) and PT deputy representing São Paulo, José Dirceu; the former president of the PT, José Genoino and the ad agency lawyer, Roberto Tolentino.
There were four votes to condemn the former PT treasurer, Delúbio Soares; the admen Marcos Valério, Ramon Hollerbach and Crisitiano Paz; and Simone Vasconcelos a director at a bank.
The only votes cast contrary to Barbosa, Weber and Fux so far in chapter six were votes by the justice-revisor, Ricardo Lewandowski. He voted to absolve José Dirceu and José Genoino, along with the lawyer, Roberto Tolentino.
Finally, all four justices who have voted so far absolved the former minister of Transportation, Anderson Adauto, and Geiza Dias, an employee at one of the ad agencies.
Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English
Link - Mensalão: Fux vota pela condenação de oito réus por compra de apoio político
