Fachin disagrees with Toffoli and Mendes and votes to uphold Lava Jato actions against Palocci.
The virtual plenary session of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) is expected to finalize the judgment by Friday.
André Richter - Reporter for Agência Brasil
Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin voted on Tuesday (1st) to overturn the decision that annulled the proceedings opened against former minister Antonio Palocci in Operation Lava Jato.
Fachin's vote was delivered during a virtual hearing of the appeal in which the Attorney General's Office (PGR) seeks to suspend the Dias Toffoli's decision, rapporteur of the case.
In February of this year, Toffoli granted the annulment request made by Palocci's lawyers and applied the Court's precedents that considered former judge Sergio Moro biased in delivering sentences against defendants in the Lava Jato investigations. Moro was the presiding judge of the 13th Federal Court in Curitiba.
With Toffoli's decision, all proceedings signed by Moro against Palocci were annulled. In one of the cases, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Despite the annulment, the plea bargain agreement signed by Palocci remains in effect.
In his statement, Edson Fachin said that the decisions made in Operation Lava Jato cannot be extended to all defendants in a "broad and generic" manner.
"Under the pretext of extension requests, broad and generic requests concerning the most varied investigations stemming from Operation Lava Jato cannot be examined, even under the guise of granting [relevant legal permission]." habeas corpus "This would violate the principle of the natural judge and the rules of jurisdiction, transforming the Supreme Federal Court into a universal court of jurisdiction, when the Federal Constitution did not entrust it with this function," the minister justified.
With Fachin's vote, the score in the trial is 2 votes to 1 in favor of upholding Toffoli's decision. In addition to the rapporteur himself, Gilmar Mendes also voted for the annulment.
The virtual vote is taking place in the Court's Second Chamber and will continue until April 4th. The votes of Justices André Mendonça and Nunes Marques are still pending.
