STF confirms jurisdiction of Rio's Courts to judge businessman

Indictment

Entrepreneur Jacob Barata Filho was denounced by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) within the scope of Operation Ponto Final, an offshoot of the Lava Jato in Rio, which revealed the payment of bribes to public agents by businessmen in the transport sector. According to the indictment, he and other businessmen would have offered undue advantage to the former governor of Rio   Sérgio Cabral Filho so that he could benefit companies in the sector.

In habeas corpus , the defense argued that there was no connection between the acts attributed to the businessman and the facts investigated in Operation Ponto Final and alleged the incompetence of the Federal Court to process and judge the case.

Winning Statement

In his vote, the HC rapporteur, Minister Gilmar Mendes, stated that “the only link between the investigations of Operation Ponto Final and the conduct attributed to Barata Filho is the award-winning collaboration of Lélis Teixeira, then executive president of the Federation of Transport Companies of Passengers of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Fetranspor)”. The minister highlighted that the Supreme Court has already pacified the understanding that the awarded collaboration does not establish competence and that the reported facts do not generate prevention.

Gilmar Mendes also said that despite the partial coincidence of defendants in criminal proceedings, there is autonomy in the line of events and in the evidence that separates the two investigations. "The inquiry opened from the employee's reports does not specify the content of the acts that would have been practiced by the entrepreneur in favor of the alleged criminal organization, with the exception of having participated in a meeting regarding the strategies to be taken to close the CPI of the Bus”, added the minister