Nominated Prosecutor General Meets PT Senators in Search of Support for his Vote

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In search of support in the Senate, deputy prosecutor Augusto Aras, appointed Prosecutor General by President Jair Bolsonaro, met on Wednesday, September 11th, with the PT bench in the Senate. The speech against conduct considered “punitivism” of the Public Ministry and independence from the government pleased the parliamentary petitioners.

Aras began last Monday a marathon in the Senate to gain votes – he will be assessed in the chamber and needs the support of 41 of the 81 senators to be confirmed as federal prosecutor general. According to the chair of the Senate Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ), Simone Tebet, the hearing will be held on the 25th. Before that, on the 18th, the committee may read the opinion of the nomination, which has not yet had an appointed rapporteur.

The deputy leader of PT in the Senate, Rogério Carvalho, said he could give a favorable vote to the deputy attorney if there were a positive evaluation. “It helps someone who belongs to the right who is able to do justice respecting the law. This finding is only in personal contact,” Carvalho said.

On Tuesday 10th, Aras was received by the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre. At the time, he defended a “positive Lava Jato,” which does not criminalize politics. According to reports from senators, the nominee preached a “modern and classic” Federal Prosecutor’s Office, with unity in the positions and that helps the development of the country, without ideological tone. According to congressmen, the deputy attorney said that the current design of Lava Jato may have led to harm, not only to reputations but to the economy.

Senator Otto Alencar assessed that Aras “did very well.” He said that “Lava Jato had a point where it exceeded the limit of the law and committed excesses, without naming names”.

In the session with senators, Aras was questioned about the protests of members of the Federal Public Prosecutors Office against his appointment, for not having been on the triple list elected by the group, and the fact that Bolsonaro had declared that he wanted an attorney general aligned with the government.

In response, Aras said that if he takes office, he will act with “absolute independence” from the executive branch. “If anyone thinks I owe them gratitude, I don’t. I am going to do the job the MPF has to do, a modern MPF,” he told Senate leaders on Tuesday afternoon.

The information is from the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.