12/23/2023 – 15:26
Minister Dias Toffoli, of the Federal Supreme Court, reinstated an order issued by judge Eduardo Appio – former head of the 13th Federal Criminal Court of Curitiba – which released the assets of one of the targets of Operation Lava Jato, businessman Márcio Pinto de Magalhães. The decision had been suspended when the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region opened a case of exception of suspicion against Appio.
The order was signed on Tuesday, 19th, as part of a request to extend a decision given by Toffoli on September 19th. At the time, the judge annulled the TRF-4 procedure, at the request of another Lava Jato investigator, Raul Schmidt Felippe Junior. Márcio Pinto de Magalhães claimed that he was in a similar situation to the latter – he had benefited from a decision by Appio that ended up suspended by the TRF-4.
The businessman was denounced in the 57th stage of Operation Lava Jato, 'Sem Limites', appointed by the Federal Public Ministry as a representative of Trafigura in Brazil and intermediary in the payment of bribes to Petrobras executives. As part of this investigation, judge Gabriela Hardt ordered, in November 2018, the freezing of the accused's assets up to R$20 million.
This year, the defense requested the release of the amounts seized by Lava Jato, based on messages from Operation Spoofing – an investigation that targeted hackers from former judge Sérgio Moro and Lava Jato prosecutors. Márcio's lawyers alleged Gabriela Hardt's suspicion of enacting the restriction on 'Sem Limites'. The request was accepted by Appio.
When analyzing Márcio's request, Toffoli saw 'identity of legal situations, regarding the nullity of the decisions that revoked judicial provision favorable' to the person being investigated. Thus, the decision of the TRF-4 was declared null, with the reestablishment of the order of the former Lava Jato judge who released the values of the 'Sem Limites' target.
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