Nassif: Supreme Court to lift secrecy surrounding Joaquim Barbosa
Acting president of the court, Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, is expected to open, in the coming days, the so-called "big drawer," or the most closely guarded secret of the president of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Joaquim Barbosa; this assertion comes from Luis Nassif, who points out that it is the original document from Inquiry 2245, which resulted in the 'mensalão' scandal; as the journalist explains, the rapporteur divided the case, and the unused parts became Inquiry 2474, kept under judicial secrecy.
247 - Under the interim presidency of Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) is expected to reveal, in the coming days, the great secret of Joaquim Barbosa. This statement comes from journalist Luis Nassif, who recalls that the so-called "big drawer" contains the original document of Inquiry 2245, which resulted in the 'mensalão' scandal. The rapporteur of Criminal Action 470, at the time, divided the action, and the parts not accepted became Inquiry 2474, kept under judicial secrecy. Read his text on the subject on the GGN website or below:
The Supreme Court will reveal Joaquim Barbosa's most closely guarded secret.
Luis Nassif
Between today and tomorrow, the acting president of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), Ricardo Lewandowski, will make public Inquiry 2474, the so-called "big drawer," the best-kept secret of Minister Joaquim Barbosa.
The "big drawer" is the original document from Inquiry 2245, which resulted in the "mensalão" scandal. At the time, rapporteur Joaquim Barbosa split Inquiry 2245, and the unused parts became Inquiry 2474, opened in March 2007, which he kept under judicial secrecy.
Despite guaranteeing that there would be no more "drawers" in the Supreme Court, Joaquim Barbosa refused to disclose the contents of the investigation.
In 2011, he granted a request made by Daniel Dantas's defense, opening the investigation only for him (http://tinyurl.com/kgnobew). But he denied it to two convicts from the "mensalão" scandal, claiming that they had no relation to AP 470. However, it became known that reports from the Federal Police, which would attest to Daniel Dantas's participation in financing Marcos Valério, were sent to Inquiry 2474, and not to 2245. The same was true for reports attesting to the application of Visanet's resources in promotional campaigns.
By making the investigation public, Lewandowski will allow not only Dantas, but all interested parties to learn about its contents.
There is suspicion that, by excluding Dantas' contributions, which were attested to by reports from the Federal Police, the Attorney General's Office (PGR) encountered difficulties in justifying the amount of money moved by Valério. This is why they treated the R$ 73 million from Visanet as embezzlement, ignoring technical reports that confirmed the funds were used in campaigns.
Attorney General Antônio Fernando de Souza stated in a paragraph of the initial audit report of Banco do Brasil:
"The lack of a formal instrument, agreement, or equivalent within Banco do Brasil to regulate the allocation of funds advanced to advertising agencies makes it difficult to ascertain whether these funds were used exclusively for the execution of incentive actions under the Fund."
The report does not deny the use of the funds. It merely stated – given the weakness of the reports – that it was not possible to guarantee that "they were used exclusively for incentive actions under the fund".
Attorney General Souza ignored the word "exclusively" and understood that the report attested that all of Visanet's advertising funds had been embezzled. Later, he retired and went to work at a law firm that was awarded a huge contract with Brasil Telecom.
The disclosure of 2474 could be very useful for Barbosa to dispel rumors that his son was hired by one of the companies that benefited from Visanet funds, and whose case was shelved. Or that Banco Rural conducted similar operations with TV Globo to those it closed with the PT.