The proposal by Edson Fachin, President of the Federal Court, to develop a code of ethics for the Ministers of the Court deserves to be fully supported. The supreme organ of the judiciary can no longer accept that the individual behavior of its members harms the institution as a whole.
The initiative is timely. Although it was created a few months ago, it has gained ground in recent days, after two of Fachin’s colleagues were caught in episodes that, at best, arouse very serious suspicion.
One of them concerns Dias Toffoli, who stopped in Lima, Peru, to watch the Copa Libertadores final. Originally from Palmeiras, the minister considered it appropriate to make the trip aboard the private jet of businessman Luiz Osvaldo Pastore and in the company of Augusto Arruda Botelho, lawyer for one of the directors of Banco Master.
In a diatribe of fate, the minister took over the Master file shortly after returning to Brazil and immediately issued a secrecy order over the process.
His intervention sparked understandable criticism on social networks and in the press, but Toffoli does not understand it. In a complete reversal of the moral sense, he even believes he has the right to complain about Fachin, who allegedly took advantage of the opportunity to propagandize on the code of ethics.
The one who also became the target of incredulous looks was Alexandre de Moraes. Last Tuesday (9), the contract between Banco Master and the legal firm where the minister’s wife and two children work was known.
Situations like this always arouse all kinds of distrust, and this only increases when figures like the one agreed with Moraes’ wife’s bank are at stake: BRL 3.6 million per month for three years, or a planned total of BRL 129 million. We cannot imagine what legal services this fable could cost.
The cases of Toffoli and Moraes are far from unique, but they have provoked stronger reactions because they contain clear overtones of scandal – and because they come at a sensitive time for the STF.
It is enough to see that the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), decided not to take into account the decision of Moraes which determined the revocation of the mandate of Carla Zambelli, federal deputy (PL-SP) imprisoned in Italy.
This is not the first time such a thing has happened, nor is it the first questionable order passed by the Supreme Court, but contempt for the pen of the highest judicial body in the land will never be a good sign.
If the STF wants to regain its reputation — and it has an interest in doing so — the code of ethics imagined by Edson Fachin represents an excellent starting point.
Inspired by the German model, the rules imagined by the president of the court would emphasize transparency and include rules on moderation and conflicts of interest. It is difficult for anyone in good faith to oppose this Republican initiative.
editorials@grupofolha.com.br
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