An appeal by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) against the decision of the first instance of the Federal Court was unanimously denied in a session held on Tuesday, 7; Eduardo Cunha was also acquitted
O Tribunal Regional Federal of the 1st Region maintained this Tuesday, 7, the acquittal of former president Michel Temer and other politicians involved in the so-called “MDB gang”. The federal judges unanimously rejected an appeal by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) against the decision of the first instance of the Federal Court, which in early 2021 determined the acquittal of the group. Former ministers Eliseu Padilha, Moreira Franco and Henrique Eduardo Alves were also acquitted; former deputies Eduardo Cunha, Geddel Vieira Lima and Rodrigo Rocha Loures; Colonel João Baptista Lima, appointed as Temer’s financial operator; lawyer José Yunes, a friend of the former president; money changer Lúcio Funaro; and Altair Alves Pinto and Sidney Szabo. In the opinion of Judge Ney Bello, rapporteur of the case, the conduct attributed to the group does not constitute crimes in the Law of Criminal Organizations and the proximity between the politicians does not prove irregularity. “It is quite obvious and blatant that people who are in the same political congregation, in the same political organization, have relationships of a subjective nature. Therefore, the subjectivity or the degree of contact that all these people had with others, it is evidently the result of political activity itself. Therefore, this element alone does not have the ability to build a necessary link that could characterize any of the crimes of the 12,850”. Maria do Carmo Cardoso and Wilson Alves de Souza accompanied the rapporteur’s decision.
Temer and the other politicians were denounced by the ex-prosecutor of the Republic, Rodrigo Janot, stating that the former representative led an alleged criminal organization composed of Cunha, Henrique Alves, Geddel, Rocha Loures, Padilha and Moreira Franco. According to the complaint at the time, the group allegedly committed crimes against companies and public bodies and those involved received bribes, which in total exceeded R$ 587.1 million. All denied involvement in the scheme.
