Brazil's Supreme Court overturns Vaccari's conviction in the Lava Jato corruption scandal.
The bank employee celebrated Minister Edson Fachin's decision, emphasizing that the process that convicted him was "flawed from the beginning, riddled with countless illegalities and abuses."
247 - Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin has ordered the annulment of the trial that sentenced former Workers' Party (PT) treasurer João Vaccari Neto to 24 years in prison as part of Operation Lava Jato. The decision, signed on December 19 last year, was published this Tuesday (9) by the Supreme Court.
Vaccari faced accusations from the Lava Jato task force for allegedly receiving undue advantages from the Keppel Fels group, a company that held contracts with Petrobras and was also targeted by the operation's investigations. The alleged irregularities are said to have occurred in 2010.
The annulment of the proceedings occurred after Fachin accepted an appeal filed by the defense, which argued the incompetence of the 13th Federal Court in Curitiba, then headed by the biased former judge Sergio Moro, who had convicted Vaccari. The minister decided that the accusations against the former treasurer should be judged by the Electoral Court of the Federal District.
In justifying his decision, Fachin highlighted that, according to the Supreme Court's jurisprudence, the investigations cannot be conducted by the Lava Jato court. "Given the evidence that funds were collected, under the coordination of João Vaccari, to pay off campaign debts of the Workers' Party in 2010, it appears necessary, according to the jurisprudence of the Supreme Federal Court, to recognize the competence of the Electoral Court to process and judge the criminal prosecution in question," stated the minister.
With this decision, the Electoral Court of the Federal District will be responsible for evaluating the possibility of reusing the evidence obtained after the annulment.
In response to the decision, lawyer Luiz Flávio Borges D'urso, representing Vaccari, issued a statement affirming that the defense had always maintained the incompetence of the 13th Federal Court in Curitiba to judge the case. "This decision by Minister Fachin restores the legality of a process flawed from the beginning, riddled with countless illegalities and abuses, which led to immense injustices, all irreparable to the accused, who were unjustly convicted," declared the lawyer.
[With information from Ag. Brasil]