Pandora’s Box: new judge takes case at STJ

The judge on the federal appellate court (STJ) who made the decision to send the governor of the Federal District and five others straight to jail on Feb 11, Fernando Gonçalves, will be retiring soon (he will be 70 in April) and the case will now be taken care of by judge João Otavio de Noronha, whose name was chosen in a lottery. The case (in an Orwellian touch, it is officially known as Inquiry 650) deals specifically with a charge that the governor falsified documents to show that he used money he was filmed receiving from the whistleblower, Durval Barbosa, to buy Christmas sweetbreads, known as panettones, for the poor.
On Feb 11, Gonçalves was faced with what was certainly the most difficult ruling he ever had to make: a federal attorney and a federal prosecutor brought him shockingly clear evidence of attempted bribery of a witness by an emissary of a sitting governor. He decided to throw the whole gang behind bars, but because of the gravity of the situation he called in the rest of the STJ and had his decision endorsed by the other judges 12 to 2.

Noronha voted with Gonçalves on Feb 11 to send the governor to jail, however, he is known to believe (along with the majority of the other judges) that, as per the Federal District charter (“Lei Organico,” that is, the municipal constitution), permission to formally prosecute the governor criminally requires authorization by two-thirds of the Federal District Legislative Assembly (CLDF). Getting authorization from other politicians to pursue formal criminal charges against a politician is part of the traditional, historical shielding of Brazilian politicians that makes it so hard to prosecute them, let alone ever get one behind bars.
In the case of José Roberto Arruda, the governor of the Federal District, suffice it to note what the chief federal prosecutor, Roberto Gurgel, and  the government attorney, Raquel Dodge,  declared in the lawsuit they took to judge Gonçalves: “There is institutional bankruptcy in the Federal District …which has contaminated the executive and the legislature … a criminal organization is obstructing justice, attempting to bribe witnesses and tampering with evidence…  and at this very moment they are actively erasing traces of their criminal activities.”
Arruda controlled 19 of the 24 deputies in the Legislative Assembly. Eight of them have been implicated in the bribery schemes, slush funds and generalized malfeasance. Three were filmed handling dirty money (two of them have recently resigned to avoid further penalties). This is the legislative body that would have to authorize any criminal prosecution against the governor.
Sidestepping that little problem, at this very moment the members of the legislature, only to avoid federal intervention and save their own skins, are busy impeaching the governor. And today the Supreme Court will rule on a writ of habeas corpus filed by the governor’s lawyers But, what about the other crimes – the real crimes – the governor is accused of committing? Remember Inquiry 650?

Inquiry 650 is not treason or some capital crime against the State. It is a felony, a simple case of tampering with evidence, or fraud, where someone underhandedly debased documents that are relevant in a criminal investigation. So, although Arruda will lose his job, he will probably get out of jail soon and then, due to the existence of the system of political privileges, protections and shields, the chances that he will ever actually stand trial for any specific crime are very slight.