Waiting for Rachel

The first challenge awaiting the new Attorney General of the Republic, Raquel Dodge, who takes office this Monday (18) in a ceremony attended by Michel Temer, will be to demonstrate her independence and willingness to fight the crimes of the powerful. Her discourtesy in not inviting, with due distinction, her predecessor Rodrigo Janot to the ceremony, speaks more of internal disputes in the MPF than of her willingness to fight corruption and continue the proceedings initiated from Lava Jato. Janot's absence will avoid embarrassment but will fuel questions about Raquel's mandate. The composition of her team does not suggest a differentiation through leniency but only through style and method. Those who bet on leniency may be disappointed. Even so, Raquel Dodge will have to quickly demonstrate independence, and the chance may come this week if the STF accepts Temer's defense request to "correct" Janot's indictment, removing accusations for crimes committed before he took office. The task will be hers.

It is virtually certain that the Supreme Court will not accept Temer's request to "freeze" the indictment until investigations into irregularities in the JBS plea bargain negotiations are concluded, in which former prosecutor Marcello Miller allegedly acted as a double agent, advising the informants while still linked to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office. Ministers Marco Aurélio Mello and Luiz Fux have already made statements pointing out the legal impossibility of blocking the indictment, delaying its submission to the Chamber of Deputies.

However, another interpretation could be made regarding the fact that the accusation refers to Temer's crimes committed before he took office. The Constitution is clear in ensuring that this cannot happen. To oust Dilma, alleging managerial failures that would constitute a crime of responsibility, the coup plotters invoked fiscal irregularities in 2014. But that didn't hold water; it was a previous term. So the diligent TCU (Federal Court of Accounts), even before judging the 2015 accounts, provided a report pointing to fiscal irregularities in that year as well, the first year of the second term. And that's what happened.

The Supreme Court (STF) may understand – as I understood upon reading the voluminous indictment – ​​that Janot invoked facts prior to Temer's presidential term only to indicate that the criminal organization began to form long ago, but continued to function after his rise to the Presidency, with him remaining at the top of the structure and making decisions about the collection and distribution of bribes. They may also argue that it will be solely up to the Chamber of Deputies, and not the STF, to decide on the constitutionality of the indictment, including the timing of the alleged crimes. It seems more likely to me that this will be the collegiate body's option.

But the Supreme Court justices may also understand that Janot should have limited himself to pointing out crimes committed during his term in office, although it is complicated to discuss an action that unfolded over time – the continued actions of the PMDB in the Chamber of Deputies as a supporter of the government in order to obtain positions of power in the State and practice extortion – without demonstrating the evolution of the criminal organization. If the court understands it this way, it will be up to Raquel Dodge to make the necessary corrections to the indictment, making it more explicit that Temer should only be held accountable for crimes committed after taking office. And even then, there will be no shortage of raw material. The encouragement given to Joesley Batista to continue buying the silence of Eduardo Cunha and Lúcio Funaro is something from this year. The ports decree, which favored the company Rodrimar, is also from this year. The connections with the other members of the PMDB in the Chamber of Deputies are evident in the very composition of Temer's government.

But if she has to amend Janot's indictment, it will be time for Raquel Dodge to show her true colors, making formal changes that don't offer relief to those who appointed her. She must maintain the essence of the indictment, which accuses him of obstruction of justice and leading a criminal organization. Any weakening will reinforce the belief that she is there to be the anti-Janot. Given her trajectory, Dodge cannot be expected to be a general file-away-er of the Republic, in the mold of Geraldo Brindeiro, the Attorney General during the FHC era. But she should do everything to avoid a loss of confidence in the Attorney General's Office, in this time of discredited institutions.