Lava Jato: Portuguese Constitutional Court Rules Against Extradition of Suspect to Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Portuguese Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Brazilian authorities wanted the Constitutional Court to overrule the decision of a Supreme Court judge who, from a writ of habeas corpus, threw out the entire extradition process.

The Constitutional Court did not agree with the Public Prosecutor’s Office or with the Brazilian authorities, who deemed unconstitutional the closing of the extradition proceedings of the suspect in operation Lava Jato, Raul Schmidt.

In May of last year, the 5th Section Judge of the Supreme Court, Manuel Joaquim Braz, stopped the extradition, which had already become final, issuing a writ of habeas corpus — a measure that can and should only decide if preventive detention is lawful.

This writ of habeas corpus became known shortly after other Supreme Court Judges had decided, on April 12th, 2018, that Raul Schmidt should be handed over to the Brazilian authorities.

The case generated considerable unease in Brazil, with Lava Jato investigators failing to understand the outcome of the matter in Portugal. And, on the Portuguese side, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, through Attorney Maria Jos Morgado, filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court requesting that Judge Braz’s decision be reviewed, alleging the judge’s use of a writ of habeas corpus and stating that he had not given the Lisbon Court of Appeals any alternative but to close the whole proceeding.

But this month, the Constitutional Court judges rejected the appeal, stating that there was no unconstitutionality: “In view of all the above, being certain that the arguments used in the claim are unlikely to disrupt the judgment reflected in the summary decision in question, which deserves our agreement, we have therefore decided to reject the present claim.”

The Brazilian authorities have also been informed of this defeat and that they will have to pay court costs. However, the case may not stop there.

The Brazilian International Cooperation Secretariat of the Office of District Attorney (SCI/PGR), stated yesterday that it had received “the information that the Constitutional Court of Portugal has denied the appeals filed by Brazil and the Portuguese Prosecutor’s Office requesting the extradition of Raul Schmidt.”

An official source also explained that the case might not stop there, given that the “Portuguese MP will examine whether an appeal against this decision is admissible.”

The information further adds that “Raul Schmidt is still considered a fugitive in Brazil because the arrest warrants issued by the Federal Court of Curitiba remain in force.”

In addition to the possibility of the Portuguese MP obtaining a new appeal, Brazil has not yet given up on extradition: “The SCI/PGR continues to follow the status of another action filed by the office representing Brazil in Portugal, which is contesting the decision that granted Portuguese nationality to Raul Schmidt. The annulment of this decision would allow the extradition of the accused to be tried in Brazil”.

Raul Schmidt is suspected in Brazil of being a mediator for kickbacks paid to former Petrobras directors. The Luso-Brazilian has been charged with the crimes of corruption, money laundering, and criminal association.

To make this extradition even more complicated, Schmidt managed to obtain acknowledgment of his Portuguese nationality by descent in record time under the recent nationality law, even after the lawsuit was already in progress. He also tried to block his extradition, arguing that Portuguese law only allows for the extradition of citizens who had committed crimes before they were Portuguese, which he argues is his case, because the citizenship by descent granted to Schmidt is the equivalent to that of citizens born in Portuguese territory.