Opposition senators file appeal to annul defeat in CPI on Crime

Senators Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE), Magno Malta (PL-ES) and Marcos do Val (Avante-ES) filed an appeal, addressed to the Board of Directors of the Senate, to try to annul the vote of the CPI on Organized Crime that defeated the report by senator Alessandro Vieira (MDB-SE).

The emedebista had requested the indictment of ministers Alexandre de Moraes, Dias Toffoli and Gilmar Mendes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), and the Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet, but the opinion was defeated by six votes to four.

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On Tuesday, the last day of the CPI and the date on which the report was voted on, government supporters promoted the replacement of two opposition senators in an offensive to prevent the vote on the text or defeat it in the last session of the commission.

Sergio Moro (PL-PR) and Marcos do Val left the board, both members of the Democracy Parliamentary Bloc (MDB, PSDB, Podemos and União Brasil) and in favor of the opinion. In their places, Beto Faro (PT-PA) and Teresa Leitão (PT-PE) entered, aligned with the government.

In the appeal, the three opposition senators complain about the government’s base strategy.

“It would not make sense to recognize the normative force of proportionality only at the origin of the CPI and admit, shortly afterwards, that it could be emptied by strategic substitutions capable of artificially altering the internal correlation of forces precisely in the act of voting”.

The Senate Board, however, is commanded by the president of the House, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), who has already signaled resistance to the report prepared by Vieira. Shortly after the opinion was presented, Alcolumbre said in a ceremony at Palácio do Planalto that there are “permanent attacks on institutions”.

The report highlighted suspicion, breach of decorum and interference in CPI investigations by ministers, in addition to attributing to the STF an environment of “intense judicialization”, with decisions that suspended proceedings, limited access to data and withheld statements.

The Banco Master case was treated as a common thread and as an example of the connection between financial crime and criminal organizations. Despite this, the opinion did not include requests for indictment of operators directly linked to the scheme.