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BRASÍLIA – With the conduction of the investigation investigating the accusations of the former minister Sergio Moro against President Jair Bolsonaro the attorney general of the republic Augusto Aras define the next steps of the investigation and, in the end, the possible offer of a complaint against the president. The following measures include commenting on the secrecy of the video of the presidential meeting and the definition of Bolsonaro’s testimony on the events.
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The video, shown Tuesday at the headquarters of the Federal Police (PF) in Brasilia, caused a surprise among investigators, after the testimonies were considered “disappointing”, like that of former general director Maurício Valeixo. There is still disagreement between the teams on whether the audiovisual record would prove a common crime or only show a possible crime of responsibility, which is insufficient to support a criminal charge but serves as the basis for an eventual impeachment process.
In the video of the meeting of the council of ministers last April 22, Bolsonaro defended the changes in command of the Rio Federal Police to prevent members of his family and friends from being “harmed” by the ongoing investigations. According to the report from three sources that saw the video, the president said that he would like to replace the Federal Police Superintendent of Rio de Janeiro and that he would even dismiss Justice Minister Sergio Moro if he was unable to do so. Upon leaving office, Moro accused the president of politically interfering in the PF. In response, Bolsonaro said this afternoon that he did not say the words “Federal Police”, “superintendent” and “investigation” during the meeting and that he referred to fears for the safety of his family.
Access to the meeting record was a request from Aras himself after Moro cited in his testimony that the video was one of the evidences of his accusations against the president. At the Cabinet meeting on April 22, Bolsonaro allegedly threatened to fire the superintendent of the Rio Federal Police, because he was concerned about investigations that would harm his family and allies.
These actions are being carried out by the Federal Police, which the minister Celso de Mello gave him a period of 20 days. This Wednesday, the PF should listen to Congresswoman Carla Zambelli (PSL-SP) about the dialogues she had with Moro to try to convince him about the dismissal of the director general of the Federal Police Maurício Valeixo. In addition, PF experts must transcribe the dialogues contained in the video to send the material to Minister Celso de Mello, who will decide on its eventual disclosure.
This Wednesday, Aras must send a statement to the Supreme Court requesting that only excerpts from the video that are of interest to the investigation be published, that is, the parties that refer to attempts to interfere with the Federal Police. This demonstration goes in the same direction as a request made by the Advocacia-Geral da União (AGU), which had only requested the disclosure of selected excerpts from the video.
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However, STF sources indicate that Minister Celso de Mello intends to disclose all the material. Wait for Aras to prove himself before deciding.
The attorney general also hopes to have access to the content of ex-minister Sergio Moro’s phone conversations, to find out if there is other evidence of Bolsonaro’s alleged undue interference with the PF. The coroners carried out the transcript of the conversations and must analyze if there are other relevant extracts for the investigations.
The authenticity of Valeixo’s resignation decree is also under expert analysis, to see if Sergio Moro’s signature was forged, although his name was included in the decree, Moro said he did not sign Valeixo’s resignation. The government then released a new version, removing the minister’s signature justifying that an “error” occurred.
Investigators from the Office of the Attorney General (PGR) and the Federal Police evaluate that the evidence provided by Moro and the content of the testimonies collected so far do not yet point to the configuration of the crime by the president.
The testimony of former CEO Maurício Valeixo was considered “disappointing” because, in evaluating these sources, he toned down in relation to the allegations made by Moro and said he agreed with Bolsonaro that his request for exoneration be published with information. which was “on demand”.
The assessment by Aras’ team members is that Valeixo did not corroborate Moro’s statements and exonerated Bolsonaro for interfering in the PF, saying he never received improper requests.
One of the last stages of the investigation should be Bolsonaro’s testimony. The evaluation of the PGR is that the president has the right to answer questions in writing, due to the prerogatives of his office. This was the procedure used to take statements from former President Michel Temer in the investigations that were brought against him in the STF during his presidential term.
After that, the FP must prepare a report, evaluating whether the president committed a crime. This document will be sent to Aras so they can decide whether to file a complaint or close the case. If Aras requests a lawsuit against the president, it will be up to the House to decide whether or not to authorize the Supreme Court to analyze the complaint.
