Brazilian Senate Approves Controversial Measure Against Misuse of Power by Judges and Prosecutors

By Xiu Ying

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Senate approved on Wednesday, June 26th, the bill dealing with measures to combat corruption and misuse of power.

Inspired by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s initiative, known as the “Ten Measures Against Corruption”, the proposal provides for a specific criminalization of electoral black cash and classifies several corruption-related crimes as heinous.

In addition, it addresses the so-called misuse of power, and seeks to criminalize the conduct of judges and members of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, when committed with the purpose of prejudicing third parties, for their personal advantage or that of others, and when committed “on a mere whim or for personal gratification”.

The issue was the subject of an amendment voted separately by the full Senate, which retained the text.

Measures against the misuse of power were included in the bill during its proceedings in the Chamber of Deputies. At one point, the issue was subject to a separate vote in the Senate’s Constitution and Justice Commission to have it excluded from the text, but this was rejected in a vote by party leaders.

The text provides for a six-month to two-year imprisonment sentence for cases of misuse of power, in addition to a fine.

“This project came from the Chamber of Deputies carrying absolutely open and shut articles on abuse, providing for a sentence of six months to two years without any kind of safeguards to protect the rights of members of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and judges,” said Rodrigo Pacheco (DEM-MG), the rapporteur of the bill, during its earlier voting at the Chamber Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ).

“We senators, what are we doing here, in my opinion? Deleting from the text vague provisions which can impede and hinder the performance of judges and prosecutors, adding the interdiction of the crime of legal interpretation, adding the requirement of specific intent, and greatly improving the text, thus meeting number of claims made by bodies involving federal judges, judges of law, prosecutors of the Republic and prosecutors of justice,” he said.

The bill now returns to the Chamber of Deputies since the senators amended it.

Voting on the bill takes place amid materials disclosed on the Intercept Brasil website on alleged conversations pointing to cooperation between then judge Sérgio Moro, now Minister of Justice and Public Security, and the coordinator of the Lava Jato operation of the Federal Public Prosecutor in Curitiba, Deltan Dallagnol.

The minister has even voluntarily attended a public hearing in the Senate. Moro had already been called to participate in a discussion in the Chamber, but he canceled it due to a trip to the United States.

On Wednesday, the Chamber Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) approved a motion to invite the minister to discuss the material released by the Intercept Brasil.