Covid’s CPI takes final report to PGR and STF and charges for developments

by Ricardo Brito

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Senators from Covid’s CPI took the final report of the investigations in person this Wednesday to the Federal Attorney General, Augusto Aras, and Supreme Court Justice (STF) Alexandre de Moraes, with the aim of requesting to the authorities that proceed with the findings of the commission of inquiry.

At a press conference after meeting with Moraes, senators said that the report will be sliced ​​up and sent to each of the authorities responsible for proceeding with the parliamentary investigations.

The group will also create a Pandemic Observatory to monitor and press for developments. The vice president of the CPI, Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), set the tone for the performance from now on.

“Our work did not end yesterday with the approval. It will be of no use if we had qualified for 6 months and there is no consequence,” he said. “It is our task with Brazil,” he added.

The day before, the commission approved its final report requesting the indictment of President Jair Bolsonaro and 77 other people, in addition to two companies, for crimes committed in the fight against the pandemic.

Bolsonaro is pointed out in the opinion as the main responsible for the errors in the pandemic, which killed more than 600 thousand people in Brazil, and defended punishing him for 9 crimes. In practice, it is up to Augusto Aras – who was recently appointed and reappointed by the president himself – to decide whether to follow up the investigations carried out by the CPI in the case of the president.

During the pandemic, the attorney general has taken a measured role to investigate possible irregularities by the government and the president, acting in general in a reactive manner at the request of authorities and parliamentarians.

Even in the face of fears that the attorney general will not proceed with the investigations against Bolsonaro, senators indicated in interviews after the meeting with Aras that they were satisfied with his position.

One of Aras’s biggest critics, senator Simone Tebet (MDB-MS) said she had seen the attorney general’s “firmness of purpose” with the work of the CPI, highlighting his speech at the meeting that he represents “the entire body”.

Randolfe Rodrigues said that he will await Aras’s submission of the CPI’s conclusions and has not ruled out, in case he does not act, directly referring the investigation regarding Bolsonaro to the Supreme Court.

“The Federal Supreme Court will be available if any negligence by the Public Ministry occurs,” he said. “We are going to wait the next 15 to 30 days to find out what will be the behavior of the Attorney General of the Republic,” he amended.

The CPI rapporteur, Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL), stated that the president of the collegiate, Omar Aziz (PSD-AM), quoted Aras at the meeting in which there are investigated, previously establishing a deadline for the filing of the commission’s investigations, creating a embarrassment for the attorney general.

“The investigation took place in broad daylight. We accessed indisputable evidence and at one point the attorney general confessed that he is aware of the duty to do it,” he said, reporting what Aras reportedly said at the meeting.

In a post on Twitter after the meeting, the attorney general said that, with the information from the CPI report of Covid in the Senate, it will be possible to advance in the investigation of authorities with special jurisdiction.

“This CPI has already produced results. We have accusations, criminal actions, removed authorities and many investigations in progress and now, with this new information, we will be able to advance in the investigation in relation to authorities with jurisdiction over the higher courts,” said Aras.

SOCIAL NETWORKS

At the meeting with Moraes, the senators reported that the STF minister congratulated them for their work and stated that he must analyze a request made by the CPI to suspend Bolsonaro’s social networks after he made a false link between Covid’s vaccine and AIDS cases .