Justice for Hire: The Intercept Discloses Sales of Rulings by Judges in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Intercept Brasil’s story this Monday, September 30th, has unveiled a lucrative market for the sale of rulings involving trial and appellate court judges in at least nine state and three federal courts in Brazil.

From a survey conducted with the National Council of Justice (CNJ), through the Access to Information Law, the report uncovered 21 cases of sales of rulings, with figures ranging from R$750 to R$400,000 (US$100,000).

According to the survey, seven trial court judges and 14 appellate court judges have been convicted for this crime in Brazil. There are still 13 other cases in which the rapporteurs of the trial cases have not made it clear that the magistrate received money in exchange for a decision, but there are strong signs that this has occurred. Tocantins, Bahia, and Ceará are the leading states, with four cases each.

The most expensive decision was charged by Judge Rubem Dário Peregrino Cunha, of the Bahia Court of Appeals: R$400,000. The transaction was made in 2007 by the then mayor of São Francisco do Conde, Antônio Pascoal Batista (PDT).

He had been denounced by the state’s Prosecutor’s Office for stealing approximately R$1.5 million from the city government and was risking imprisonment. The case was referred to Judge Cunha’s office, who, in addition to the money, also asked for a position for his son’s girlfriend.

While in São Francisco do Conde the decision was high-priced and accessible to only a few, in Ceará-Mirim, in Rio Grande do Norte, judge José Dantas de Lira was happy to receive R$750 per injunction, an amount that would be shared with five other people.

The business operated in bulk and, in six months, Lira granted 22 injunctions to only three people.

From 2007 to 2009 alone, the Prosecutor’s Office of Rio Grande do Norte discovered that more than R$3 million had been paid into the account of one of those involved in the scheme. Lira was forced into compulsory retirement in 2017, the most severe administrative punishment that the CNJ can apply to magistrates.

In charge of supervising and ensuring the work of the other magistrates, at least two co-regulators were also involved in the “sentencing market”.

Jovaldo dos Santos Aguiar, chief judge of the Amazonas Court of Appeals, was removed after being denounced by a businessman and lawyer who paid but did not get the negotiated decision.

Federal Appellate Court Judge Antônio Fernando Guimarães, of the Minas Gerais TRT , left the law firm that was working to “subsidize” the rental of his apartment.