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By six votes to four, the ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) decided on Thursday to release the sale of refineries for Petrobras without authorization from Congress Nacional, in a victory for the state company to carry out its divestment plan.
Most of the Supreme Court ministers rejected a request presented in July by the Executive Boards of the National Congress, the Chamber of Deputies we do Senate outright suspend the sale of refineries, citing the refining units in Bahía (Rlam) and Paraná (Repar).
The court understood that the operation launched by Petrobras to enable the sale of the units, with the creation of subsidiaries and subsequent sale of assets, is part of the company’s management option with the aim of increasing its efficiency, in line with with the winning vote granted. by Minister Alexandre de Moraes.
“We are very happy. We always believe in the positive result because we have confidence in the capacity of our Supreme Court,” said Petrobras president Roberto Castello Branco after the trial.
The day before, when the trial began, state attorney Tales David Macedo said that the investment portfolio reorganization program is vital to the financial health of the company.
The refineries are among the main assets of the divestment plan, which aim to reduce the company’s high indebtedness, among other objectives.
Macedo recalled that the company continues to be the world’s most indebted oil company, citing a debt of 91,000 million dollars.
Moraes also refuted the Legislative Branch’s claim that the operation would be a covert privatization.
“The disinvestment plan prepared (by Petrobras) is aimed at greater investments, prioritizing other areas and ensuring greater efficiency and effectiveness of the parent company,” he said.
“At no time is the partial or cut privatization of Petrobras or the loss of share control discussed,” he reinforced.
Moraes’ vote accompanied the ministers Luis Roberto Barroso, Toffoli days, Carmen Lúcia, Gilmar Mendes and the president of the STF, Luiz fux, who was in charge of giving the vote that consolidated the majority.
For Fux, the court’s decision is at the forefront of economic analysis of the law and is in line with the practices of developed countries.
The rapporteur of the action, Minister Edson Fachin, voted for the suspension of operations because he understood that the possibility of selling eight Petrobras refineries around 50% of the refining capacity would need to have legislative authorization, even in the case of the creation of subsidiaries to enable this type of operation.
“Thus, I understand that it is not possible to freely create subsidiaries with the consequent transfer of assets and subsequent sale in the market,” he said.
Edson Fachin and Ministers Rosa Weber, Ricardo Lewandowski and Marco Aurélio Mello were defeated.
Minister Celso de Mello, who retired from the Supreme Court on the 13th, did not participate in the trial. The Supreme Court office did not say why he was absent.
The trial began the day before with the oral arguments of those involved in the case. As Reuters reported, the government has created a kind of task force with senior officials to ensure victory in the process.
