Gilmar Mendes may have hitched a ride with Demóstenes on Cachoeira's private jet.
Information from the Federal Police reinforces suspicions of links between the Supreme Court Justice, author of the controversy involving Lula and the mensalão scandal, and the senator threatened with expulsion.
247 – Wiretaps intercepted by the Federal Police and released this Monday raise suspicions that the Minister of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Gilmar Mendes, “hitched a ride” on a private jet provided by Cachoeira, on April 25, 2011, when he allegedly returned from Germany to Brazil, accompanied by Senator Demóstenes Torres (former DEM-GO).
Minister Gilmar Mendes is at the center of a controversy involving former President Lula and the Mensalão scandal. In an interview with Veja magazine, he confirmed the content of a conversation he had with Lula on April 26th, in the office of former Minister Nelson Jobim. According to him, Lula said it would not be "appropriate" to judge the Mensalão case in 2012. And he hinted that he could protect his interlocutor in the Cachoeira Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry.
Read the report by Najla Passos and Vinicius Mansur, from Carta Maior - Brasília:
The atmosphere of suspicion regarding the connections between Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes and his former friend Demóstenes Torres, a senator from Goiás and former leader of the DEM party, is worsening. Torres is now at the center of the Joint Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPMI) investigating the actions of Carlos Augusto Ramos's gang, the illegal gambling operator Carlinhos Cachoeira. Wiretaps intercepted by the Federal Police (PF), with judicial authorization, during Operation Monte Carlo, revealed this Monday, question whether Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes "hitched a ride" on a private jet provided by Cachoeira on April 25, 2011, when he allegedly returned from Germany to Brazil in the company of Senator Demóstenes Torres (former DEM-GO).
A phone call intercepted by the Federal Police on April 18, 2011, at 6:08 PM, shows Carlinhos Cachoeira informing former Delta employee and former PSDB city councilman, Wladimir Garcez, also arrested during Operation Monte Carlo, that Demóstenes was in Berlin. In a new call, on April 23, 2011, at 7:31 PM, Wladimir asks Cachoeira for authorization to pick up "Professor" (one of Demóstenes' code names, according to the Federal Police) in São Paulo, on the private jet of someone named Ataíde. He says that he and Gilmar are on board. In the transcript, the Federal Police questions, in parentheses ("Mendes?").
Later, at 20:24 PM, Wladimir calls Cachoeira again, saying he couldn't get in touch with Ataíde and that he would send Rossini's plane. Cachoeira asks what kind of plane Rossini is referring to, and Wladimir replies: a King Air jet.
Waterfall: 'It's small, isn't it?'
Wladimir: Yeah… so I talked to him. He said, no, don't worry, I'll organize it. Because he and Gilmar are coming, right? Because they won't find a flight, you know?
Cachoeira bids farewell, saying he would call Demosthenes in Berlin.
At 8:38 PM, Cachoeira calls Wladimir again. They discuss other matters. Later, they return to discussing the "ride." Wladimir says that Demóstenes will arrive at six in the morning on April 25th and that he will leave everything organized for the pilot to pick him up.
On April 25th, at 12:10 PM, Wladimir tells Cachoeira that the senator has already arrived.
Gilmar Mendes traveled to Europe to participate in an international congress honoring the Italian jurist Antonio D'Atena, promoted by the Peter Häberle Foundation and the University of Granada, Spain. The congress opened on April 13, 2011, but Mendes' participation took place the following morning, with the lecture "Integration in Latin America, based on the example of Mercosur".
There is no public record of what Mendes did during the rest of his time outside of Brazil. He reportedly told Veja magazine that he met with Demóstenes in Berlin, Germany. According to Veja, the minister has a daughter residing in Berlin and therefore frequented the city regularly.
There are no public records of what activities Demosthenes may have undertaken in Europe, but a survey conducted by Carta Maior shows that he did not participate in the votes held in the Senate plenary between April 13 and 25, 2011.