Gaspari denounces the powerful protection afforded by the São Paulo PSDB party.
"While the Senate was pulling Aécio Neves out of the frying pan, the São Paulo Court of Justice demonstrated the persuasive power of the PSDB party, which has governed the state for 22 years. By a 3-2 vote, the 12th Chamber of Public Law ordered the reinstatement of Dr. Robson Marinho to his position as advisor to the State Court of Accounts, from which he was removed in 2014. Robson Marinho was mayor of São José dos Campos, federal deputy, and president of the Legislative Assembly. Furthermore, in 1994 he coordinated Mário Covas's campaign for governor of the state. He rose to head the Civil House of the PSDB candidate and received from him the lifetime perk of being an advisor to the court," writes columnist Elio Gaspari.
247 - In your column this SundayElio Gaspari denounced the power of the PSDB party in São Paulo.
"While the Senate was pulling Aécio Neves out of the frying pan, the São Paulo Court of Justice demonstrated the persuasive power of the PSDB party, which has governed the state for 22 years. By a 3-2 vote, the 12th Chamber of Public Law ordered the reinstatement of Dr. Robson Marinho to his position as advisor to the State Court of Accounts, from which he was removed in 2014. Robson Marinho was mayor of São José dos Campos, federal deputy, and president of the Legislative Assembly. Furthermore, in 1994 he coordinated Mário Covas's campaign for governor of the state. He rose to head the Civil House of the PSDB candidate and received from him the lifetime perk of being an advisor to the court."
Since 2008, Marinho has been under investigation for allegedly engaging in corrupt practices, lavishly compensated, for the benefit of the metro and rail equipment supplier Alstom. The Swiss government sent Brazil bank statements from what appears to be his account in a Swiss bank, showing a balance of three million dollars. Alstom has already reached agreements with the Public Prosecutor's Office, but the legal proceedings involving the PSDB politicians implicated in the corruption schemes in the São Paulo metro and railways are simply stalled, or progressing very slowly.
No wonder, Governor Geraldo Alckmin was the only Brazilian politician to threaten a company with a lawsuit after it admitted its wrongdoing. Calling it a "confessed defendant," he promised to sue Siemens, which, from Germany, exposed the corruption scandal. Today, Siemens is an international example of ethical standards. The threat was just empty talk.
Judge José Orestes de Souza Nery reported on Marinho's case and argued that the doctor should return to his position because, after three years, the Public Prosecutor's Office had not proven that his reinstatement would entail risks. He also clarified that "the present judgment does not address the defendant's potential guilt for the acts of impropriety attributed to him." Marinho never stopped receiving his R$ 30 salary and intended to return to the Court of Auditors, repeating: the Court of Auditors. There are 50 pretrial detainees in São Paulo's prisons, and there the average time spent in detention without pay was 234 days.
The Pope is Argentinian, but God is Brazilian. The day after the São Paulo court's decision, Justice Nancy Andrighi of the Superior Court of Justice reiterated the removal, and Marinho remains out of office, still receiving his meager salary.