Brazil: Federal Prosecutor’s Office opens 12 investigations on Covid CPI allegations

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Federal District Attorney’s Office (MPF) opened 12 notifications of fact to investigate specific points of the Senate’s Covid-19 Parliamentary Inquiry Committee (CPI) report.

The PRR1 is the MPF’s first instance body in the Federal District, and is responsible for investigating facts cited in the report linked to people without privileged jurisdiction.

Therefore, it opened 12 lines of investigation, which will cover the Ministry of Health’s actions and omissions during the management of ex-Minister Eduardo Pazuello, as well as the exacerbation of the pandemic; the case of Prevent Senior, on the testing of drugs with no proven effectiveness in patients; and the suspected irregularities in the purchase process of the Covaxin vaccine, among others.

On Twitter, the former deputy chairman of the Senate CPI Senator Randolfe Rodrigues said: “We will not rest until those responsible for the tragedy that took the lives of so many Brazilians are held accountable.”

INVESTIGATIONS

In the decision, Federal Prosecutor Marcia Brandão Zollinger said that 26 areas of the Federal District Attorney General’s Office (PR/DF) received a copy of the Covid CPI report to examine if the elements contained therein were related to ongoing investigations in these offices.

“Thus, virtually all of the PR/DF offices [areas] received a copy of the Pandemic CPI report and will be able to instruct their extrajudicial and/or judicial procedures, also with respect to facts that may have escaped the examination of this opening order, ensuring, once again, that relevant facts will not be precluded from our civil and criminal review,” she said.

The Prosecutor also ordered the Senate president Rodrigo Pacheco to be notified of the investigations.

THE DECISION:

“In light of the above, I hereby order the breakdown of the present Notifications of Fact into 12 groups, each of which merits an independent examination. Each fact must be instructed with a copy of the full Pandemic CPI report:

1) The present Notification of Fact will focus on the facts listed in group 1 – Actions and omissions in the Ministry of Health, under the management of ex-Minister Eduardo Pazuello, among others, and the exacerbation of the pandemic;

Each subsequent Notification of Fact will investigate the following facts:

2) Prevent Senior Case: Crimes of endangering life or health, omission of notification of disease, misrepresentation.

3) Covaxin Case – Precisa. Suggestion for distribution to one of the offices for fighting corruption and administrative misconduct, after analyzing the correlation;

4) VTC Operadora Logística Ltda – VTCLog case. Suggestion for distribution to one of the offices for fighting corruption and administrative misconduct, after analyzing the correlation;

5) Davati Medical Supply case. Suggestion for distribution to one of the offices for fighting corruption and administrative misconduct, after analyzing the correlation;

6) Misuse of public office by Airton Antonio Soligo. Suggestion for distribution to one of the offices for fighting corruption and administrative misconduct, after analyzing the correlation;

7) Fake News and incitement to crime. Suggestion for distribution to one of the offices for fighting corruption and administrative misconduct, after analyzing the correlation;

8) Civil liability for collective moral damage. Suggestion for distribution to one of the offices for citizenship and health, after analyzing the correlation;

9) The impact of the pandemic on indigenous peoples and quilombola communities. Suggestion for distribution to the office for environment and rights of indigenous peoples, quilombola communities and traditional peoples and communities, after analyzing the correlation;

10) The impact of the pandemic on women and the black population. Suggestion for distribution to one of the offices of citizenship and health, after analyzing the correlation;

11) Conitec. Suggestion for distribution to one of the administrative acts offices, after analyzing the correlation;

12) Health Plans and Hospitals. Suggestion for distribution to one of the administrative acts offices, after analyzing the correlation.”

Through a note, since the opening of investigations, Prevent Senior has denied all accusations and said that all will be clarified. The purchase of Covaxin vaccines was canceled due to suspected irregularities.