CPI hearings will be monitored by cameras.
The Batcave; documents from Operation Monte Carlo, published by 247, will only be viewed under security cameras in a monitored room; parliamentarians may bring paper and pen and take notes; but no photos or pen drives; the opposition complains about the lack of information; transparency? A hug...
247 – The Cachoeira CPI will release information in dribs and drabs to the parliamentarians who are part of it. This is the decision of the commission's president, Senator Vital do Rêgo (PMDB-PB), to comply with the secrecy order given by Minister Ricardo Lewandowski of the Supreme Federal Court. Rêgo had already said, upon receiving the Operation Monte Carlo inquiry on Monday the 30th, that the documents would be kept in a "bat cave". What was not known was the apparatus set up to prevent leaks of information. Exclusively, 247 published the statement of the Attorney General of the Republic, Roberto Gurgel, and seven more volumes of the Federal Police inquiry that were at the STF (read here). The entire document has 15 volumes and about 15 pages.
To prevent the second part of the Operation Monte Carlo investigation from becoming public, the chairman of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) has set up an unprecedented security apparatus. A small room with a metal detector and monitored by open television cameras 24 hours a day is where the documentation is kept – and only there, without any removal of the whole or its parts, can parliamentarians consult it. CPI members may take notes, but are not authorized to make copies of pages, take photos or videos, or download information onto USB drives. The computers that could display the digitized content of the inquiry have had their access to this device blocked. Of course, some politicians are already complaining about the difficulties and limitations in accessing the documents. They claim that they can barely ascertain, even now, the complete content of the investigation.
Below is a news report from Agência Brasil on the subject:
Marcos Chagas
Reporter from Agência Brasil
Brasilia - Since the work of the Joint Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPMI) on the Post Office scandal in 2005, no other investigative commission in Congress has taken such rigorous care in preserving the confidentiality of documents forwarded by the courts as the CPMI on the Cachoeira scandal. The measures include restricted access to commission members, who will be monitored and recorded during consultations and will not be allowed to carry cell phones or other devices that capture images.
Members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate who are part of the Joint Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPMI) will be able to consult the already digitized investigations of the Vegas and Monte Carlo operations, conducted by the Federal Police, through three computer terminals. The work will be carried out in a small room of less than 10 square meters, and the parliamentarians will not be allowed to be accompanied by advisors.
The chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPMI), Senator Vital do Rêgo (PMDB-PB), highlighted in an official letter sent to the Sub-Secretariat for Support to Special and Parliamentary Inquiry Commissions, responsible for safeguarding the documents, that the security measures comply with the guidelines of Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Ricardo Lewandowski. The letter recommends that "the examination of the copies sent be restricted to the CPMI, which must adopt strict measures to ensure that its content is not improperly disclosed."
"The member of parliament will arrive, identify themselves, sign a commitment agreement, and go to the computer. They will have paper and pen available, but they won't be able to take anything out of there. They will be able to see and hear, but they cannot remove the material from there, as it is confidential."
Furthermore, the Senate Police and the Special Secretariat for Information Technology (Prodasen) were tasked by Vital do Rêgo with coordinating the implementation of the measures.
Unlike what happened in the parliamentary inquiry commission investigating the Post Office scandal, parliamentarians will not be able to make copies of documents protected by judicial secrecy that would describe the workings and ramifications of the alleged corruption and illegal gambling scheme led by businessman Carlos Augusto Ramos, known as Carlinhos Cachoeira, from Goiás state.
It was also decided that the members of the Cachoeira Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry will be recorded and monitored while they are in the room of the Sub-Secretariat for Support to Special Commissions and Parliamentary Inquiries where the documents will be consulted.
The parliamentarian will have at their disposal, in that room, only ballpoint pens and blank paper for any notes they deem necessary. At the same time, by order of the president of the CPMI, Senator Vital do Rêgo, the deputies and senators will have to leave cell phones or any other equipment with a camera or video recorder capable of reproducing images in the care of the staff responsible for protecting the room.
Another security measure adopted was the sealing of all USB ports on the computers. These ports would allow documents to be saved electronically, using a pen drive. The terminals will also be disconnected from the internet.