Of the 37 ministers of State appointed by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT, progressive-globalist), at least 12 face active lawsuits.
The Poder360 outlet searched for legal actions against each of the Justices in the STF (Federal Supreme Court), the ministers in STJ (Superior Court of Justice), and federal, regional, and state courts of justice.
They analyzed documents attached to 435 actions related to the heads of the cabinets.
From prison sentences to debt collection and IPTU arrears, there are 22 active lawsuits citing the ministers as defendants.
There are 3 cases with convictions in which the ministry heads are appealing.
There are also 2 cases in which the ministers already have favorable sentences but are under appeal.
The digital newspaper contacted the advisors of all the ministers mentioned in this report, and their answers are included below.
Here is a summary of the themes of the lawsuits:
3 MINISTERS HAVE CONVICTIONS
Waldez Goez (National Integration), Luciana Santos (Science and Technology), and Luiz Marinho (Labor) are trying to reform the sentences for which they were convicted.
Get to know the cases.
WALDEZ GÓES (Integration)
The MP (Public Ministry) of Amapá accused the minister of embezzlement for administrative acts in 2009 and 2010 when he was governor of the state.
The accusation says that Góes diverted resources that should have been reserved to pay consigned loans contracted by state public servants.
The money was destined to pay other government expenses, delaying payment to creditors.
Góes was acquitted by Amapá’s Justice in the 1st Instance.
The Public Ministry appealed. In 2019, Góes was sentenced in the STJ to 6 years and 9 months in a semi-open regime, plus a fine of R$6.3 million.
The case was sent to the STF (Supreme Court). In 2020, Justice Dias Toffoli gave an injunction favorable to Waldez Góes.
After that, the trial was interrupted after Alexandre de Moraes asked for more information.
In a note, the minister’s counsel says that the rapporteur and the reviewer of the case in the STJ “recognize that the amounts were used for payment of servers and that there was no embezzlement.
They also say that “there is no debt of the State of Amapá with the banks” in the period.
It also cites a precedent of the STF judgment “that recognized that there is no crime when the manager uses values for expenses of the Public Administration itself.”
LUIZ MARINHO (Labor)
The Public Ministry of the State of São Paulo accused the Minister of Labor of cross-nepotism when he was mayor of the city of São Bernardo do Campo (SP).
The accusation cites the appointment of Aglaupe Gebara Grana in 2005 to a position of trust as an operations technician in the city of Santo André.
Aglaupe is the daughter of the then-mayor of Santo André, Carlos Grana.
The MP says that four months after he admitted her, Marinho received in exchange the appointment of his sister-in-law, Sandra Losano Marinho, in the Santo André City Hall.
The minister was acquitted in the first instance of the TJ-SP (São Paulo Court of Justice), but the MP-SP appealed. Luiz Marinho was then convicted in 2nd Instance to erase a fine of 6 times the value of his last remuneration.
He was also forbidden to contract with the government for 12 months.
Marinho’s press office informed that the minister’s defense has already filed an appeal against the decision.
“We believe in reversing the result, reaffirming the 1st Instance sentence. We reinforce the understanding that the then mayor practiced no illicit act,” they say in a statement.
LUCIANA SANTOS (SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY)
The minister is a defendant in 4 active lawsuits.
They are:
1- Public lighting
The MP of Pernambuco says there were irregularities in the contracting of the company Citéluz to manage the public lighting system of Olinda from 2004 to 2009 when Luciana was mayor of the city.
The total value of the contract was R$7.4 million.
The accusation pointed out excessive requirements in the public notice, the absence of a detailed budget, and the impossibility of the company participating in the public notice, among other irregularities.
The TJ-PE sentenced Luciana in 2019 to have her political rights suspended for 6 years and a fine of 5 times her salary in the city hall for administrative improbity.
The minister is appealing the decision.
In a note to Poder360, the MP says that “the sentence itself, however, recognized that Luciana Santos and the other prosecuted public officials did not receive or diverted any public money: ‘…not having, however, any demonstration that the defendants, alone or in the consortium, received or diverted public money'”.
Luciana also affirms that there was no damage to the public patrimony and that the contract benefits Olinda. She says she is convinced that the “Court of Justice of Pernambuco will correct the unfair conviction that was imposed.
2 – Rental of vehicles
The Public Ministry of Pernambuco denounced Luciana for having hired in 2001, with the dispensation of bidding, the company Midnet to rent vehicles to the Olinda Municipal Health Secretariat, also when she was mayor.
She says there is evidence of fraud to benefit the company. The case has not yet had a sentence.
The Minister’s Counsel says that “there was no damage to the public patrimony and that the dismissal of the bidding process was due to the complete absence of vehicles available for the execution of the services under the responsibility of the Municipal Health Secretariat, among them the transportation of patients between health units. There were no vehicles and no ongoing bidding process for their hiring.”
3 – FNDE
The Municipality of Olinda filed a lawsuit against Luciana in 2019 seeking reimbursement.
There was a rejection of the accounts of an agreement signed with the FNDE (National Fund for Education Development) for R$189,000 to purchase teaching materials.
The city blames Luciana’s administration for not having proven the use of the resources.
Luciana’s counsel says that the application of resources was proven during the process.
“Moreover, the defense also showed that, although the rendering of accounts was in 2007, the Union took more than 10 years to analyze it and require the documents it considered necessary to complete proof of the adequacy of spending, which made it difficult to locate these documents by the former mayor (who was already out of the city hall since 2008), who could only find them after the city filed this lawsuit,” it says in a statement.
4 – Use of aircraft
The lawyer Otávio Henrique de Lemos Bernardo filed a lawsuit against Luciana Santos, saying that, in 2021, the then-acting governor of Pernambuco used an official aircraft to travel to a private party in Brejo da Madre de Deus in the hinterland of Pernambuco.
The lawsuit was filed after accusations by Luciana’s opponent, Congressman Coronel Meira (PL-PE), on news websites.
There is still no sentence for the lawsuit.
In a statement, Luciana says it is a politically motivated lawsuit to damage the minister’s image.
She says there is no concrete proof of misuse of purpose, only rumors of social networks of political connotation.
OTHER PROCESSES
In addition to the above cases, some lawsuits cite another 9 ministers of the current government as defendants. Find out more:
ANA MOSER (Sports)
The minister faces 3 lawsuits in the TJ-SP (São Paulo Court of Justice) of tax foreclosure for active debt from 2020, 2021, and 2022.
The municipalities that filed the lawsuits (Guarujá and São Sebastião) may take the defendant’s assets if the situation is unresolved. The cases were distributed to the rapporteur.
In a note, the minister’s counsel informed that the processes “relate to an installment payment of the IPTU debt and that the negotiations for payment are already underway”.
CAMILO SANTANA (Education)
There are 2 active lawsuits against the Minister of Education in the TJCE (Court of Justice of Ceará).
They are the following:
1 – Embezzlement of resources
The Public Ministry of Ceará (MP-CE) accused Camilo in 2013 of participation in what became known in the local press as the “scandal of the toilets”.
The accusation cites the embezzlement of resources from Fecop (State Fund to Combat Poverty) for constructing toilet kits for needy families.
According to the accusation, a construction company was used to divert public resources from the Secretariat of Cities of Ceará, and some of the sanitary kits were not delivered to several families.
The minister’s advisory states that Camilo Santana “has no direct or indirect responsibility for the acts cited in the lawsuit.
Camilo was Secretary of the Cities of Ceará from 2011 to 2014 and, according to the advisory, determined the “immediate opening of a special accountability” on the fact, which occurred in 2010.
According to the minister’s advisory, he fired and removed servers linked to suspected misconduct among the measures adopted.
2 – Special retirement
The former state deputy Heitor Férrer filed suit against Camilo in 2020, accusing the then governor of Ceará of administrative misconduct for having granted a special voluntary retirement to Helio Parente de Vasconcelos Filho of the former Audit Court of Municipalities of the State of Ceará.
The process was suspended for at least 1 year, in March 2022, as it depends on the result of a judgment in progress at the STF (ADI 6313).
In a statement, Camilo Santana’s press office says the retirement was “granted based on a rule provided for in the Constitution of the State of Ceará, approved by the Legislative Assembly.
CARLOS FÁVARO (Agriculture, Livestock and Supply)
A businessman who owns a consulting company sued the current Minister of Agriculture in 2019 to collect a R$ 691,000 debt from Favaro and 3 others that fell due that year.
The lawsuit is underway in the TJMT (Court of Justice of Mato Grosso).
The minister’s office said in a statement that Favaro and others involved in the process indicate “the absence of procedural interest of the author [of the action] due to the lack of memory of the updated calculation, requiring the extinction of the done without resolution of the merits.
They also request a reduction in the contractual penalty on the debt value.
CARLOS LUPI (Social Security)
The MPF filed an administrative improbity lawsuit against Carlos Lupi (PDT) because of a trip made in 2009 by the then Minister of Labor and Employment.
The MPF says that Lupi used an aircraft rented by the NGO Cepros (Center for Studies and Social Promotion), which cost R$30,000.00.
The NGO belongs to businessman Adair Meira, who owns Renapsi (National Network for Learning, Social Promotion, and Integration).
The Public Ministry says that the companies had at least 9 previous agreements with the folder headed by Lupi, from 2007 to 2011, of “expressive amounts”.
The accusation says that the trip would have been paid by the businessman in search of benefits for his contracts held with the government.
Lupi had a favorable sentence in May 2022 in the 6th Civil Court of Brasília, but the MPF appealed, and the process is in the 2nd Instance.
The minister’s advisor says that “the Federal Court of Brasilia has judged totally unfounded the requests made by the Federal Public Ministry because there is no concrete evidence that Mr. Carlos Lupi received undue advantage paid by Adair Meira.
FLÁVIO DINO (Justice and Public Safety)
Former Maranhão Health Secretary Ricardo Murad filed a lawsuit in 2018 against Flávio Dino (PSB), then governor of Maranhão, and 3 state secretaries for damage to the public purse and violation of the Bidding Law (Law 14.133 of 2021).
Murad alleges that funds from a contract of the Health Secretariat, intended for the construction of the Hospital de Alta Complexidade Dr. Carlos Macieira, were reallocated for the construction of another unit, the Hospital do Servidor, on the same site.
It says a change in the project was initially tendered and that this would be irregular.
About the case, the minister’s counsel said in a note sent to Poder360:
“The former secretary presented no evidence of irregularity, and the State Public Ministry has already issued an opinion for dismissing the action. All legal requirements were met, and the hospital was inaugurated in 2021, providing improved medical care to state public servants”.
MARGARETH MENEZES (Culture)
The survey indicates 5 lawsuits against Margareth for debt collection.
According to data from PGFN (Procuradoria Geral da Fazenda Nacional) sent to Poder360, the companies Associação Fábrica Cultural and Estrela do Mar Produções Artísticas, which have the minister as a partner and administrator, have R$1.2 million registered in the Federal Active Debt.
Margareth has a positive debt certificate with negative effects. This means the debts have been negotiated and are in regular payment status.
In a note to Poder360, the minister says:
“The referred company had a tax debt that was accentuated by a long pandemic period, which resulted in glaring impossibilities in the cultural area, making it difficult to maintain regular payments. In 2022, with the gradual return of the activities, the regularization processes were resumed. Currently, the debts are in the process of payment through the Tax regularization instruments”.
In the note, the minister contests the debt values informed by PGFN to Poder360 without saying the correct ones.
RENAN FILHO (Transportation)
The minister is cited in a precautionary action in the STF for search and seizure (AC 4427), an unfolding of a secret investigation in the Supreme Court.
The secretive procedure was initiated in 2018.
The investigation investigates whether there were illegal transfers from the J&F group to MDB politicians during the 2014 elections.
The accusation mentions R$3 million of undue contributions from the company to Renan Filho’s campaign for the government of Alagoas in 2014.
In a plea bargain, the former president of Transpetro, Sergio Machado, said he heard from several politicians, in meetings at the home of Senator Renan Calheiros, Renan Filho’s father, that the JBS group would make donations to the acronym “in the order of R$40 million” at the request of the PT.
Sought by Poder360, Renan Filho would not comment on the case.
RUI COSTA (Civil House)
The minister is involved in a secret inquiry in the STJ that investigates the purchase of 300 lung ventilators by the Northeast Consortium during the covid-19 pandemic.
Rui Costa (PT) was the governor of Bahia and led the group.
The contract established R$ 8 million in purchases of devices, but the equipment was never delivered.
Poder360 sought the minister’s counsel on January 26 but had not received a position as of the publication of this report. The space remains open for manifestations.
WELLINGTON DIAS (Development and Social Assistance, Family, and Fight against Hunger)
The state deputy Júlio Arcoverde (PP) opened a lawsuit in 2021 against the then-governor of Piauí, saying there was nepotism.
The accusation says that the then secretary of Finance of Piauí, Rafael Fonteles (PT) (elected governor of Piauí in 2022), appointed his father-in-law, Francisco da Costa Araújo Filho, to be the regional general coordinator of the Pro-Piauí program in the Picos region.
Wellington Dias is cited in the lawsuit for being the governor at the time.
The lawsuit has not yet been finalized and is on appeal, but Dias and Fonteles have already obtained a favorable sentence in the lower court, and the judge understood that there was no nepotism.
The minister’s press office replied to Poder360 that “given the unequivocal inexistence of favoritism due to kinship, the judge responsible for the case considered unfounded the accusations of nepotism made by congressman Júlio Ferraz Arcoverde (PP-PI)”.
METHODOLOGY
Poder360 searched for the names of the 37 ministers in the STF, STJ, TRF, and TJ systems in the states where they have political careers.
It analyzed 435 lawsuits and only considered those still active in the survey and in which the ministers are cited as defendants.
Lawsuits related to campaign debt and pendencies, crimes of honor (libel, slander, defamation), lawsuits by the estate, or failure to nominate people who have passed a competitive examination were not included.
Lawsuits questioning public policies (such as tax exemption) were disregarded, but not those suggesting administrative improbity or favoritism in hiring companies.
In the case of 3 ministers (Wellington Dias, Rui Costa, and Flávio Dino), the procedural search by name exceeds the limit of 30 actions, and the system displays only the last 30.
Thus, it is possible that other relevant cases were left out of the survey due to the limitation of the courts’ query systems.
Besides those cited, the vice-president and industry minister Geraldo Alckmin appears with 1 active lawsuit.
Still, as it relates to the Lava Jato operation lawsuit closed at the end of last year, Poder360 did not include it in the survey result.
Minister Gonçalves Dias sent documentation to the digital newspaper proving the payment of a debt mentioned in a still active lawsuit and, therefore, was also excluded from the survey.
With information from Poder360