Actor João Carlos Baselar (PL-BA), who appears in a seized document with Daniel Forcaro, owner of Banco Master, is a veteran member of the chamber and has already been the target of at least five investigations in the Supreme Federal Court (STF). But all these operations were introduced or terminated by agreements.
The document citing Basilar was from a real estate company and was used by Forcaro’s defense to try to move the investigation into alleged wrongdoing at Master, currently being conducted by the Federal Court of the Federal District, to the STF. Minister Dias Toffoli will continue to analyze this request.
Bacilar is in his fifth consecutive term as MP, always for the PL (formerly PR). He was a close ally of former Council President Eduardo Cunha, having been one of the only 10 deputies to vote against his impeachment, which was approved by 450 votes.
During this period, the MP was the target of several special task force investigations, but he managed to archive three of them and reach an agreement in two.
In 2020, the First Authority of the Special Criminal Court received a complaint against him for the crime of embezzlement in the form of embezzlement. According to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), Basilar appointed two women as parliamentary secretary to his office in El Salvador who carried out private activities: one working in a company owned by her family and the other in the representative’s home.
In 2023, Basilar signed a non-criminal prosecution agreement (ANPP) with PGR. In agreements of this type, the accused admits guilt in exchange for ending the case and receiving a better sentence.
— It was very ridiculous, by a sister of mine, for the abuse of office duties. Zero function (deviation). Every mayor has a relative on his staff, something like that. But everything is fine. To avoid causing problems, I reluctantly closed ANPP. Everything else has been archived – says the MP.
The parliamentarian had already concluded a similar agreement in 2012, to close the investigation into contempt of Federal Police (PF) agents.
Rejecting the complaint and archiving the investigations
Last year, the second body of the STF dismissed a PGR complaint against Basilar who was part of Operation Lava-Jato. The parliamentarian was suspected of receiving bribes in exchange for services from the construction company Odebrecht, but it was understood that there was no evidence to confirm the accusation. His defense had claimed that there was an attempt to criminalize political activities.
In 2021, another Lava-Jato investigation has already been filed against the MP by then Minister Ricardo Lewandowski (now retired and Minister of Justice).
Another investigation was conducted in August by Nunes Márquez. This case has been ongoing since 2013, becoming the oldest investigation conducted by the STF, and investigated suspicions of passive corruption, bid fraud and embezzlement, which the MP denied.