Watch out, Azeredo: the PSDB's mensalão scandal in 2014.
Justice Luís Roberto Barroso, the case's rapporteur, is eager to bring the scheme to trial; operated by Marcos Valério, the embezzlement of public funds was used to finance the reelection campaign of the then-governor of Minas Gerais in 98; the congressman has until next Friday to request action in the criminal case against him.
247 - Sixteen years after the events, the PSDB's mensalão scandal could be judged in the first half of 2014. The rapporteur for the case at the STF (Supreme Federal Court), Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, is eager to conclude the matter, following the outcome of AP 470. "I will judge it as quickly as due process allows," he said.
The scheme diverted public funds to the reelection campaign of the former governor of Minas Gerais and current federal deputy Eduardo Azeredo (PSDB), in 1998, according to a complaint filed by the Attorney General's Office.
The scandal only came to light during the investigation into the Workers' Party's alleged purchase of parliamentary support in 2005 because the scheme was also operated by advertising executive Marcos Valério.
But the case reached the court back in 2003, two years before the first accusations of the so-called PT mensalão scandal, which shook the PT government and resulted in Criminal Action 470. Congresso em Foco reveals that, in May of last year, the then president of the court, Carlos Ayres Britto, even called the trial of the civil action, the one that allows the recovery of embezzled funds, the Minas Gerais mensalão scandal. But for some reason that neither Ayres Britto nor the other ministers can explain, the process was removed from the agenda. And it never returned. While the civil action against the PSDB remains shelved, the Supreme Court has already convicted 25 defendants involved in the money laundering scheme set up by the PT and is now analyzing their respective appeals.
According to the Supreme Court's schedule for investigating the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) scheme, Azeredo has until next Friday to request action in the criminal case against him. Afterwards, the rapporteur will open a period for final arguments from the defense and the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office. Upon delivering the vote, the case is forwarded to the President of the Supreme Court, who will set the date on which the action will be placed on the plenary agenda.