Collor sets the tone at the CPI.
The former president finds a stage to shine again in the parliamentary commission; his refined and incisive oratory already dictates the commission's direction; he was the first to request the summoning of Roberto Gurgel and to insinuate a spurious connection between the press and Carlos Cachoeira's gang.
247 - In the first session of the Cachoeira Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, the most prominent parliamentarian is former President Fernando Collor de Mello. He has just insisted that parliamentarians summon the Attorney General of the Republic, Roberto Gurgel. "There is nothing in the Constitution that prevents it," he said. "He needs to explain why he received information against Senator Demóstenes Torres in 2009 and took no action." Collor had the support of Congressman Carlos Sampaio (PSDB/SP), who is a prosecutor and also supports summoning Gurgel.
This morning, the chairman of the CPI, Senator Vital do Rego (PMDB/PB), and the rapporteur, Deputy Odair Cunha (PT/MG), invited prosecutor Gurgel to appear voluntarily – the invitation was refused and he will only go if summoned.
Collor, a former journalist, was also the first to raise the issue of the relationship between Carlos Cachoeira's gang and the press. "I have never seen the director of a weekly magazine cohabiting with a criminal for so long," said the former president of the Republic.