The Federal Police issued a public memorandum on Monday expressing its “concern” over the report submitted by federal MP Guilherme Dirret (PP-SP) on the anti-factionalism bill. According to the text, the proposal being discussed in Congress could impose “significant restrictions” on the actions of the National Police in the fight against organized crime.
The demonstration took place after a meeting between the Director General of the National Police, André Rodriguez, and the President of the Chamber, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), who posted on his social networks on Monday that he had “brokered a dialogue” between Dirit and André “with the aim of ensuring that the National Police continues its tasks in investigations against organized crime.”
According to the memorandum, the Foundation recognizes the importance of measures to confront criminal factions, but warns that some provisions of the project may “harm the independence of the investigation” and limit strategic operations in sensitive areas, such as borders and the fight against international trafficking.
“Based on the submitted report, the historical institutional role of the Federal Police in the fight against crime – especially against powerful criminals and large-scale organizations – could be subject to significant restrictions. The implementation of operations by the Federal Police depends on the request of the state government in the area being investigated, which poses a real risk of weakening the fight against organized crime,” the PF statement said.
The forum states that the report proposes changes that “have not been the subject of in-depth technical discussion” and that could have implications for national public security.
“The Federal Police reiterates its commitment to combating criminal organizations, but recognizes that any legislative change must preserve the operational capacity and functional independence of the institution,” the text says.
Dayrit said he would submit a new version of the opinion by the end of Monday to respond to parliamentarians’ requests. In a change already outlined, it was stated that it would expand the assumptions under which corporate assets used by organized crime would be affected.
In the first version, the Durrett Report identifies increased penalties for acts of organized crime as acts equivalent to terrorism. The idea is to change the text to include punishing factions even for acts that do not amount to terrorism, thus covering up the lack of availability of goods in more cases.
– Dirit said that the withdrawal of capital from companies (used by factions) will also occur in cases of crimes stipulated in the Criminal Organizations Law, in addition to the criminal type stipulated in Article 2-A (which deals with the equation of terrorist acts).
The MP temporarily left his position as Minister of Security under the administration of Tarcisio de Freitas (Republicans) to report on the project. He also stressed that he would not back down from equating crimes committed by factions with terrorism. The Dirit text does not officially classify the factions as terrorists, but states that their armed practices and territorial dominance receive criminal treatment equivalent to terrorism, with prison sentences ranging from 20 to 40 years.
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