Rapporteur: 'Revocation requires irrefutable evidence'
Judge José Ribamar Mendes Júnior, rapporteur of the case in the Regional Electoral Court (TRE) requesting the removal of Governor Marcelo Miranda (PMDB) and Vice-Governor Cláudia Lélis (PV) in the case of the plane seized with money in Piracanjuba (GO), voted on Tuesday, the 23rd, to reject the action. According to Mendes Júnior, the Electoral Public Prosecutor's Office (MPE) pointed to evidence of Marcelo's involvement in the alleged illegal fundraising and spending of resources in the 2014 election campaign, but did not prove the link between the money and the then-candidate for governor. "We cannot base our decision on suppositions to remove a governor from office," said the judge. He believes that removing a governor from office requires robust and irrefutable evidence. Judge Zacarias Leonardo requested to review the case, which delayed the voting result.
Tocantins 247 - The Regional Electoral Court (TRE) began on Tuesday, the 23rd, the trial of the action that requests the removal from office of Governor Marcelo Miranda (PMDB) and Vice-Governor Claudia Lelis (PV) in the case of the plane that was seized with R$ 500 in cash in the municipality of Piracanjuba (GO), in September of last year, during the election campaign. Inside the aircraft, there was campaign material for Marcelo Miranda and the then candidate for federal deputy Carlos Gaguim (PMDB).
The rapporteur for the case at the Regional Electoral Court (TRE), José Ribamar Mendes Júnior, vice-corregidor of the Regional Electoral Court (TRE), requested the dismissal of the action. According to Mendes Júnior, the Electoral Public Prosecutor's Office (MPE) pointed to several indications of Marcelo's involvement in the alleged illegal fundraising and spending of resources in the 2014 election campaign, but did not prove the link between the money and the then-candidate for governor of the state. "We cannot base our decision on suppositions to revoke the mandate of a governor," said the magistrate.
Judge Zacarias Leonardo requested to review the case, which postponed the voting result, and there is no date set for its return to the full bench of the Regional Electoral Court. Federal deputy Carlos Henrique Gaguim (PMDB) and state deputy Eduardo Siqueira Campos (PTB), who also received favorable votes from the rapporteur, are also defendants in the action brought by the Electoral Prosecutor's Office.
In analyzing the merits of the case, Mendes Júnior justified that the revocation of the mandate requires robust and irrefutable evidence. He stated that the Public Prosecutor's Office failed to present this evidence and based its argument solely on suppositions to prove the link between Marcelo Miranda and the money seized in Goiás. Regarding the involvement of Marcelo's brother, José Edmar de Brito Miranda Júnior, known as Júnior Miranda, the rapporteur stated that the Public Prosecutor's Office did not demonstrate how he acted in the governor's campaign.
According to prosecutor George Neves Loder, it is not necessary to prove Marcelo Miranda's direct involvement in the airplane incident, but rather that he benefited from the financial transactions while he was a candidate. (With information from Jornal do Tocantins)