Blackout on Pertence Charge; Mello Also in the Mishegaas?

Northfleet, the Brazilian John Roberts at the moment.

Of all the followup coverage to Terra Magazine’s report on alleged verdict-selling by a Brazilian Supreme Court justice — I am judging from Google News Brasil now, bear in mind — only this dinky regional paper in Maracaju (Mato Grosso do Sul) fails to fit the general pattern: A smattering of vigorous defenses, and interviews with the outraged judge, by professional associations for magistrates and attorneys — and an eerie and unanimous silence in the mainstream press.

I wonder if the Terra article pissed off the federal prosectors and police and they are keeping a lid on the story? Or perhaps it was a strategic leak?

Neither has yet made a public statement, that I can see, on the federal Justice Web site.

Terra Magazine is edited by Bob Fernandes, a veteran investigative journalist who worked with Mino Carta at most of the major national news publications, then co-founded the crusading CartaCapital — “out with mafias and spies, in with a modern business sector and well-governed capital markets,” as I think you could summarize CC’s mission statement

Fernandes — he wrote these stories himself — also reports that the name of the president of the Federal Elections Tribunal, this peculiarly unjudicious Mr. de Mello, was also cited by the sujects of the wiretapped conversations.

Whoa. That deserves a separate post.

The report from the grotões — the smuggling case that gave rise to the unexpected allegations took place in the paper’s backyard — even manages to add some details to what I have been able to learn of the case.

Grampo da PF pega suposta venda de sentença no STF

Federal Police bug captures alleged sale of verdict in the Supreme Court.

Odilon recebeu informações da PF e repassou à Procuradoria-Geral da República e ao STF

Odilon received information from the Federal Police and passed it to the Attorney General and Supreme Court.

Uma interceptação telefônica da operação “Bola de Fogo”, que prendeu 92 pessoas por envolvimento com contrabando de cigarros e lavagem de dinheiro em outubro, revelou um suposto esquema de venda de decisões judiciais no STF (Supremo Tribunal Federal). Um advogado que estava sendo investigado pela operação e um lobista conversam sobre uma decisão do ministro Sepúlveda Pertence que beneficiou o Banco do Estado de Sergipe. A decisão teria custado R$ 600 mil. O Terra Magazine obteve cópia da transcrição. Sepúlveda Pertence nega a acusação.

A telephone intercept, part of Operation Ball of Fire, which arrested 92 persons for involvement in cigarette smuggling and money-laundering in October, revealed an alleged scheme to sell judicial verficts in the federal Supreme Court. A lawyer under investigation in the operation and a lobbyist were recorded talking about a decision by justice S. Pertence, which benefited the State Bank of Sergipe. The decision supposedly cost $R600,000. Terra magazine obtained a copy of the transcript. Pertence denies the charge.

A transcrição da PF chegou às mãos do juiz federal Odilon de Oliveira, responsável pelos processos da Bola de Fogo, que a encaminhou anteontem para a presidente do STF e do Conselho Nacional de Justiça, ministra Ellen Gracie Fleetwood, e para o procurador geral da República, Antônio Fernando de Souza.

The transcript came into the hands of federal Judge O. de Oliveira, who is overseeing the trials in the Ball of Fire cases, and forwarded it yesterday to the president of the STF and the National Justice Council, Ellen Gracie Fleetwood [sic: the woman's name is Northfleet, I believe --Ed.], and to the chief federal prosecutor, A. F. de Souza.

O fio da meada que levou ao gabinete do ministro Sepúlveda Pertence começa com o advogado Luis Fernando Severo Batista, acusado de articular o esquema de fraude tributária e evasão fiscal usado pelos contrabandistas de cigarro que operavam em MS, SP e RN. O esquema dos contrabandistas tem como um de seus principais operadores o empresário Hyran Garcete, que continua preso em Campo Grande.

The thread of the intrigue that led to the office of Pertence began with attorney L.F.S. Batista, accused of plotting the tax fraud and tax evasion scheme used by cigarette smugglers operating in Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo, and Rio Grande do Norte. The smuggling racket had as one of its principal operators the businessman Hyran Garcete, currently in custody in Campo Grande.

Num diálogo no dia 8 de setembro, Gabriel Damato Neto, sócio da empresa GDN Consultores, elogiou Batista pelo sucesso obtido dois dias antes. Referia-se à ação cautelar nº 1.355 e ao recurso extraordinário nº 505071, julgados pelo ministro Sepúlveda Pertence nos dias 5 e 6 de setembro de 2006, que beneficiaram o Banco do Estado de Sergipe, para quem a GDN operava, numa medida cautelar sobre a cobrança de Cofins. No telefonema, Batista cobra o pagamento dos “honorários” dando a entender que deveria pagar a uma terceira pessoa que ficaria “apreensiva”, porque sua participação teria se encerrado com a decisão.

You can read the information gisted here in in my previous post.

O teor do relatório com base nas interceptações telefônicas, enviado a Ellen Gracie e ao procurador-geral por Odilon, é explosivo:

The basic import of the report, based on telephone intercepts, that was sent to Fleetword and the prosecutor by the judge, is explosive:

“Nos diálogos interceptados os advogados envolvidos no caso dão a entender que a sentença do Recurso Extraordinário foi proferida mediante uma “propina” no valor de R$ 600.000,00 (seiscentos mil reais) sendo que um dos destinatários deste dinheiro teria sido o próprio ministro Sepúlveda Pertence”, diz trecho do documento revelado pelo Terra Magazine.

“In the conversations between the attorneys involved in the case, they imply that a favorable verdict was offered in exchange for a payment of $600,000, and that one of the recipients of this money was Pertence himself,” reads a passage of the document that was published by Terra.

O ministro negou as acusações. Sepúlveda Pertence afirmou que o advogado Luis Fernando Severo Batista enganou a GDN. Segundo o ministro, o advogado pode ter ficado com os R$ 600 mil que disse ter pago por uma sentença que nunca foi vendida. Segundo o ministro também ao Terra Magazine, a decisão em favor do Banco do Estado de Sergipe se espelhou em jurisprudência já existente.

The justice denied the accusations, saying that Batista had lied to GDN. According to Pertence, the attorney probably kept the money himself and said he had paid it out to obtain a verdict that was never actually sold. As the justice also told Terra, the decision in favor of the state bank was based on existing jurisprudence.

In a story in Ultima Instância, a trade pub for lawyers, a prominent constitutional expert at PUC-SP said the charges were “politically motivated.”

Serrano também afirma ter quase certeza de que o vazamento dessa informação tem razões meramente políticas, com o objetivo de prejudicar a eventual nomeação de Sepúlveda para a chefia do Ministério da Justiça. O atual ministro, Márcio Thomaz Bastos, deverá deixar cargo em fevereiro.

Serrano said that he is almost certain that the leak of this information was politically motivated, designed to harm the chances of Pertence for a nomination to head the Ministry of Justice. The current minister will vacate the post in February.

“Desde o final do ano passado, o nome de Pertence é cogitado para assumir a pasta da Justiça. O governo federal não pode ceder a esse tipo de pressão, ou abrirá um precedente perigoso, que afetaria todo postulante a ocupar cargo de ministros de Estado. Não se pode dar ouvidos a esse episódio, que não ataca somente o ministro Sepúlveda Pertence, mas também, a lisura, a ética e a independência do Poder Judiciário”. Entretanto, apesar de ter suas próprias suspeitas, Serrano prefere não apontar quem seria o beneficiado com o vazamento dessa informação.

“Pertence has been under consideration for the Ministry of Justicde since the end of last year. The federal government should not give in to this type of pressure, which would affect every candidate for every ministry in the government. This matter should be ignored, because it attacks not only Pertence personally but also the integrity, the ethics and the independence of the Judical branch as a whole.”

However, though he says he has his own suspicions, Serrano says he prefers not to point to any specific person who might benefit from the leaking of the information.

No doubt laying his index finger alongside his nose.

In an interview with the (generally scabrous) Correio Brasiliense, reproduced in Consultor Jurídico, the minister seems to hint that he is being targeted because of his stance against political corruption by elected officials.

The interview commences on an entirely different matter than the accusations published by Terra.

Correio — Na opinião do senhor, por que o Judiciário brasileiro ainda tem dificuldades de julgar e punir políticos?

In your opinion, sir, why does the judiciary in Brazil still have such a difficult time trying and convicting politicians?

Pertence — O foro privilegiado põe nas mãos do STF processos que não são do perfil do tribunal. São questões basicamente dependentes de apuração dos fatos contra o Executivo e o Legislativo. Então, muito destoantes da função básica do Supremo, que seria de um tribunal constitucional. O Judiciário, como um todo, vamos ser francos, ainda é pouco equipado para apurar — não é um fenômeno só brasileiro — toda criminalidade do colarinho branco. A opinião pública atribui a influências políticas, mas isso tem raízes mais profundas no tipo de criminalidade. Os crimes cometidos por assaltantes de rua e pelo homicida são, muitas vezes, improvisados. O criminoso pratica o fato e depois vai procurar como fugir do processo e da punição. A criminalidade econômica e alguns tipos de crimes políticos são delitos planejados. Na dúvida, se vão deixar rastros, não se pratica. Ou se muda a forma de praticar. Não se pode comparar. Mas eu não negaria também que há um caldo de cultura e de preconceito, ainda que inconsciente.

The competent court sends matters outside its jurisdiction to the Supreme Court. These are generally matters having to do with the investigation of facts against the Executive and Legislative branches. So they are very distracting from the basic functions of the Supreme Courts, whose job is to judge constitutional matters. The Judiciary, as a whole, let us be frank here, is still not very well-equippped to investigate — this is not just a Brazilian phenomenon, either — every single kind of white collar criminality. Public opinion attributes this to political influence, but it actually has deep roots in the nature of the crimes themselves. The crimes committed by robbers and murderers are often committed on the spur of the moment. The criminal does the deed and then thinks of how to avoid arrest, trial and punishment. Economic crimes, however, and some kinds of political crimes, are planned crimes. If there is a risk that traces might remain, they are not committed. Or a different means of committing them is found. The two cannot be compared. But I would not deny that there also exists an overarching element of culture and bias, unconscious though they might be.

Wow.

I will translate more later, but now it is Miller Time.