After international trips, Moro claims 'overworked' and does not judge members of the PSDB party.
Judge Sergio Moro cited excessive workload as the reason for withdrawing from the case involving alleged fraud by members of the PSDB party in Paraná; thus, the so-called 48th phase of "Lava Jato"—which conducted searches at the state government headquarters and resulted in the arrest of six people in February of this year, even though it had no connection to allegations at Petrobras—should now be transferred to another criminal court in Curitiba, yet to be determined.
From the Conjur website - After declaring that it “would not make sense” to disperse evidence involving operators already investigated in Operation Lava Jato, federal judge Sergio Moro reversed course this Monday (June 11) and relinquished jurisdiction over cases concerning an alleged bribery scheme involving a highway in Paraná. He cited excessive workload and based his decision on a dissenting opinion in the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region.
Thus, the so-called 48th phase of "Lava Jato" — which conducted searches at the state government headquarters and resulted in the arrest of six people in February of this year, even though they had no connection to allegations at Petrobras — should now be transferred to another criminal court in Curitiba, yet to be determined.
The case involves suspicions that a concessionaire inflated expenses and simulated contracts to conceal the transfer of undue advantages, which allegedly artificially increased toll rates. The investigation initially reached the Federal Court of Jacarezinho (PR), but the judge preferred to forward the case files to one of the courts specializing in money laundering.
Sergio Moro had considered the connection between the cases obvious, but now he has preferred to redistribute the files to another judge.
Moro wanted to take over the cases in November 2017 because he said he had found "obvious points of evidentiary connection" in the activities of operators Adir Assad and Rodrigo Tacla Duran.
The judge acknowledged at the time that activities in other states could be distributed to other courts across the country, but considered it unreasonable to prevent him from analyzing the evidence of crimes in Curitiba, involving the delivery of money there and benefiting public officials from that city.
Attorney José Carlos Cal Garcia Filho, representing one of the accused, questioned Moro's jurisdiction before the TRF-4 (Regional Federal Court of the 4th Region), as did the defense of another defendant, represented by Rodrigo Muniz Santos. The majority of the 8th Panel analyzed the arguments in May of this year, but deemed the chosen legal avenue—a Habeas Corpus petition instead of an objection of lack of jurisdiction—inappropriate.
The rapporteur, Federal Judge João Pedro Gebran Neto, was overruled when he acknowledged that the original investigation has no connection whatsoever with Petrobras.
Almost a month after the trial, it was Sergio Moro who reconsidered his own understanding. In Monday's decision, he said he is already overwhelmed with "the persistent investigations of crimes related to Petrobras contracts and the Structured Operations Sector of the Odebrecht Group."
Although he has not received any new cases since 2015, the head of the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba said that he deals with very complex cases, "naturally generating difficulties for processing within a reasonable time." He also stated that, according to "judgments of convenience and opportunity," it is more advisable to follow the vote of the rapporteur in the TRF-4, despite being in the minority.
The measure, he affirms, will also put an end to any further questioning by the defense regarding prevention. The judge ordered the redistribution of a criminal case and related proceedings among the criminal courts of Curitiba, excluding his own. Moro, however, upheld the validity of the procedural acts already carried out.
The defense wanted the previous decisions overturned, but he said it's up to the next court to decide what to do with the old rulings.