01/13/2024 – 8:18
The new Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, collected favorable decisions for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the PT in the 17 years he held a seat on the Federal Supreme Court (STF). Appointed to the Court by Lula in 2006, Lewandowski had understandings that benefited investigations in the Mensalão and Operation Lava Jato.
Retired from the Supreme Court in April last year, Lewandowski has known Lula since the PT member was a union member, in the 1970s, in São Bernardo do Campo, in the ABC region of São Paulo. The inauguration of the new Minister of Justice will be on February 1st because, first, Lewandowski needs to resolve private commitments. On the list is his departure from his law firm.
Moro's partiality
During Lewandowski's time at the Supreme Court, the decision considered to have the greatest impact was the declaration of partiality by then judge Sérgio Moro – now a União Brasil senator from Paraná – in the conduct of Lava Jato actions involving Lula. His favorable vote, in addition to that of Gilmar Mendes and Cármen Lúcia in the Second Panel of the STF, in 2021, allowed the PT member to run for President in 2022.
Mensalão
Reviewer at the STF of the Mensalão trial – a vote-buying scheme in Congress during Lula's first term as President –, Lewandowski voted, in 2012, for the acquittal of the former Minister of the Civil House José Dirceu and the former president of PT José Genoino. The two had been accused of the crime of passive corruption.
The then minister argued that there was no evidence that Dirceu commanded the scheme to pay “allowances” to parliamentarians in exchange for support for the PT government, and that the accusations were “more political than just strictly legal”. In the case of Genoino, Lewandowski said that he signed loans from a bank for the PT only as president of the party.
Despite Lewandowski's favorable stance towards the PT defendants, Dirceu was sentenced to ten years and ten months in prison and Genoino, to six years and 11 months in prison.
Cancellation of evidence
In 2021, Lewandowski accepted a request from Lula's defense, led by lawyer Cristiano Zanin (who joined the Supreme Court in the vacancy left by Lewandowski himself), and annulled evidence against the PT member obtained in a leniency agreement signed between Odebrecht and the Federal Public Ministry (MPF). The documents indicated payment of bribes in the purchase of land for the Lula Institute, in São Paulo.
According to Lewandowski, the actions analyzed by the plenary of the Supreme Court in the cases referring to Moro's suspicion and the incompetence of the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba to judge Lula were “causes of absolute nullity”. “There was a criminal prosecution of the patient in a scenario permeated by the striking partial and illegitimate actions of former judge Sérgio Fernando Moro”, stated Lewandowski. In April 2021, the STF overturned the convictions imposed on Lula in Lava Jato, leaving the PT member eligible.
Operation Spoofing
In December 2020, Lewandowski granted Lula's defense access to conversations attributed to Moro and former public prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol. The dialogues had been obtained in Operation Spoofing, which investigated the hacking of authorities' cell phones.
The material obtained was responsible for starting the Lava Jato collapse, with the review of a series of decisions taken within the scope of the operation. In November last year, J&F, owned by brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista, asked the STF to recognize that the holding “was a victim of the abuses committed” in Lava Jato. The company requested the suspension of payment of the leniency agreement reached by the group in 2017. The initial value of the settlement was R$10.3 billion.
Dilma's political rights
In 2016, when he was president of the STF, Lewandowski led the trial that led to the impeachment of then president Dilma Rousseff (PT). He allowed, at the request of PT's allies, the senators to vote separately on the revocation and suspension of political rights. Thus, Dilma was impeached, but maintained the prerogative of contesting elections and assuming positions in public administration.
State-Owned Companies Law
Shortly before retiring in 2023, Lewandowski suspended sections of the State Law and paved the way for the appointment of politicians in public companies, a topic of interest to the Lula government. The law was approved in 2016, during the government of Michel Temer (MDB), after investigations pointed to the political use of public companies to commit corruption.
Lewandowski partially welcomed the action by the PCdoB – the acronym of Lula's base – to overturn the three-year “quarantine” imposed on politicians.
The information is from the newspaper The State of S. Paulo.
#Lewandowski #history #voting #favor #members #STF
