The first chamber of the Federal Court (STF) will judge in March next year the action in which PL deputies are accused of discrepancies in parliamentary amendments. The analysis, on March 10 and 11, was scheduled for this Tuesday (9) by the minister Flavio Dinopresident of the college.
Federal deputies have been denounced Josimar Maranhãozinho (PL-MA), Pastor Gil (PL-MA) and the substitute Bosco Costa (PL-SE). In the final arguments presented at the beginning of the month, the general prosecutor’s office (RPG) requested that the trio be sentenced for the offenses of passive corruption and criminal organization. Parliamentarians deny irregularities.
Reported by Cristiano Zanin, the process is emblematic because it is the first complaint filed by splice deviation be judged by the Supreme Court. The case should serve as a guide for other similar actions as the Court consolidates a movement, currently led by Dino, aimed at ensuring greater transparency in the allocation of funds.
The idea was for the analysis to begin this year. The first panel, however, gave priority to the end of the actions of the coup plot. Due to the short calendar and the judicial recess that begins at the end of the month, the deputies’ process has been scheduled for 2026.
In its indictment presented on November 10, the PGR stated that the evidence collected during the investigation “corroborates the accusation that the defendants constituted a criminal organization aimed at distributing parliamentary amendments to municipalities in exchange for bribes.” The declaration is signed by Hindenburg Chateaubriand FilhoDeputy Attorney General of the Republic.
The “central core” of the criminal organization, he continues, was made up of Josimar, Pastor Gil and Bosco Costa. Josimar, PGR says, “occupied a leadership position” and, as such, “coordinated the allocation of resources sponsored by other members of Congress.”
The PGR affirms in its final conclusions that documents, audios and testimonies demonstrate that the parliamentarians “constituted and joined a criminal organization, structurally ordered and characterized by the division of tasks, with the aim of obtaining an undue financial advantage through the sending of amendments to the different municipalities”.
The investigation began in 2020, when Eudes Sampaiothen mayor of São José do Ribamar (MA), declared to the authorities that 25% of the amounts of the amendments allocated to health were charged as compensation for the indication to be implemented.
According to the Attorney General’s Office (RPG), the deputies allegedly demanded a bribe of 1.6 million reais to be able to send 6.6 million reais to the city of São José do Ribamar.
Voting to accept the complaint in March, Zanin said that, against the three parliamentarians, there was “evidence produced throughout the criminal investigation indicating that they had acted in an illicit concertation to ask Mayor José Eudes Sampaio Nunes to pay an undue advantage, which characterizes, in theory, the crime of passive corruption.”
Speaking on this occasion, Minister Alexandre de Moraes said that there was no doubt that “the initial accusation contained in a clear and understandable manner all the required requirements, with a coherent presentation of the facts, allowing the accused to understand the accusation and, therefore, the full exercise of his right to defense.”
MEPs presented their final conclusions at the end of last month. This statement is the last made by the defense before the trial begins by the first jury.
Josimar’s defense said it was not possible to link the suspicious transfers to the parliamentarian. He cited a report from the union’s comptroller general to assert that he would not have participated in the project.
“Public documents and the testimony of the then mayor of São José de Ribamar/MA demonstrate that the sums received by this municipality were allocated by the Ministry of Health after the approval of the proposals made by the city hall. That is to say, the transfers did not come from parliamentary amendments,” he said.
Pastor Gil’s defense said the “accusing state” had not presented sufficient evidence of his participation in the alleged crimes recounted by the PGR. “In the absence of objective and subjective criminal elements, the logical consequence is the complete acquittal of Assistant Pastor Gil,” he said.
The argument of Bosco Costa’s defense is similar. According to the lawyers, no participation in a criminal organization linked to the deviation of the parliamentary amendments has been duly proven.
“There is no evidence that allows us to assert that the defender or anyone else received the alleged illicit advantage (…). The charges against him do not meet all the basic criteria typical of the crimes of membership in a criminal organization and passive corruption,” he said.
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