Eugênio Aragão: Lula is the icing on the cake. Condemning him gives status to the judiciary.

247 - Former Justice Minister Eugênio Aragão comments on the latest legal abuses perpetrated against President Lula, who this time was the victim of yet another baseless sentence, condemned to serve another 12 years and 11 months in prison. In an appearance on the program "Brasil Primeiro," presented by former minister Aloizio Mercadante, Aragão argues that both the Judiciary and the Public Prosecutor's Office are consumed by "corporatism" and that "convicting Lula gives status" to both. 

Understand the case

Federal judge Gabriela Hardt, who replaced Sérgio Moro in Operation Lava Jato, sentenced former president Lula to 12 years and 11 months in prison for passive corruption and money laundering in the case concerning the property in Atibaia.

The accusation is that Lula allegedly received R$ 1 million in bribes related to renovations of the property, which is registered in the name of Fernando Bittar, son of Lula's friend and former mayor of Campinas, Jacó Bittar. According to the sentence, the works were financed by the construction companies OAS, Odebrecht, and Schahin.

Aragão believes that "personalism speaks much louder than legalism." "Everyone, at this moment, wants to be the protagonist of something, and Gabriela Hardt is no exception," he states. 

"Furthermore, the way Hardt interrogates Lula already demonstrates all this arrogance and abuse, which is the same style as Moro, followed by Judge Carolina Lebbos and also by Judge Gebran Neto," he describes. 

With this current view of the judiciary, he has no doubt that "Lula's favorable outcome will be political and not legal." 

Corporate interests on the rise.  

The former minister points out that the Public Prosecutor's Office has increasingly more power, and lately, the profile of the "civil service prosecutor" has become prominent. "The one who chooses the career for its earnings, exerts pressure to maintain advantages, and uses all their powers to stay at the top of the public administration," he states. 

In his view, "Lula is the cherry on top of the corporate cake." "Convicting Lula, whether for the Public Prosecutor's Office or the Judiciary, is a prestige," Aragão points out.

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