Geddel becomes defendant for pressuring Calero to approve multi-million dollar project.

247 - The substitute federal judge of the 5th Federal Court of the Federal District, Diana Wanderlei, has indicted former Minister of the Secretariat of Government of the Presidency of the Republic, Geddel Vieira Lima (MDB-BA), for administrative misconduct. The judge's decision was in response to a request from the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF).

According to the accusation, Geddel allegedly demanded that the then Minister of Culture, Marcelo Calero, produce a favorable technical report for him in order to authorize the construction of a luxury apartment in Salvador (BA). Geddel had purchased a housing unit on the 23rd floor of the "La Vue" building in Barra, but the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan) did not approve the initial project. 

Iphan argued that the original project for the development exceeded the permitted height (it was over 140 meters high), and that the property is located near sites listed as historical heritage, directly impacting them. These accounts were published on Fausto Macedo's blog.

According to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, Geddel's attacks were "intensified" through threats to Calero, "that he would 'ask the President of the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage to fire her if she did not comply with his request to approve the project without reducing its height." The case was valued at R$ 2,6 million.

"The documents attached to the initial pleading provide evidence regarding the materiality and authorship of the acts attributed to the defendant, which could be classified as acts of administrative misconduct, specifically regarding administrative principles," the judge wrote in her decision.