Judge annuls Palocci's conviction in Lava Jato lawsuit

The judge summoned Jesuíno Rissato, of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), decided today (1st) to annul one of the convictions of former minister Antonio Palocci and other defendants in one of the processes of Operation Lava Jato. In that case, Palocci was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but later signed a plea bargain agreement.

In June 2017, Palocci, former PT treasurer João Vaccari, Renato Duque, former Petrobras Services director and former Odebrecht executives were convicted by former judge Sergio Moro.

At the time, Moro considered the complaint by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) that Palocci had received a bribe to work for the benefit of the Odebrecht construction company in the contract for the construction of the offshore rigs, involving crimes of corruption and money laundering, concealment and transfer of the value of tuition fees, especially to PT.

When analyzing an appeal of the defendants' defenses, the judge understood that procedural acts must be annulled and sent to the Electoral Court, a court that has jurisdiction to judge the case, which involves electoral crimes related to common crimes.

"I recognize the incompetence of the Federal Court to prosecute and judge the present case, I declare the nullity of all decision-making acts, except for the possibility of ratification of the decisions by the competent court, I order the referral of the case to the Electoral Court", he decided.

In the decision, the magistrate based on the ruling of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in favor of the competence of the Electoral Court to investigate cases of corruption when they involve simultaneously campaign fund 2 and other common crimes, such as money laundering, which were investigated in Lava Jato .

Jesuíno Rissato is the judge of the Federal District and Territories Court of Justice (TJDFT) and was summoned to temporarily fill the vacancy of Minister Felix Fischer, who is the reporter for the Lava Jato at the STJ and is on medical leave.

Text translated using artificial intelligence.