“Mensalão” scandal: appeals from 19 defendants turned down

Criado em 30/08/13 11h52 e atualizado em 30/08/13 11h53
Por André Richter / Heloisa Cristaldo Edição:s Fonte:Agência Brasil

Brasília – On Thursday (August 29), the Supreme Federal Court (“STF”) rejected two more sentence reduction appeals from Penal Case 470, the trial of a political scandal that became known as the “Mensalão”. The justices reviewed the appeals filed by former presidential Chief of Staff, José Dirceu, and advertising businessman Cristiano Paz. Since the 14th of this month, when the appellate reviews began, appeals from 19 out of the 25 defendants have been rejected.

In the first petition considered, the justices maintained the sentence awarded to Cristiano Paz, but granted a request to correct a typo in the transcript concerning the cumulative sentence length. The fix, however, does not carry any changes to the sentence and the fines incurred. Paz was sentenced to 25 years, 11 months, and 20 days, in addition to a fine of over $1 million for charges of “active corruption” (bribery), money laundering, embezzlement and criminal conspiracy.

The Supreme also declined to cut down José Dirceu's ten years plus ten month imprisonment sentence. Moreover, requests for a new clarification motion rapporteur and for the publication of trial details on the justices' decisions omitted in the transcript were also turned town. The transcript is a trial summary containing the justices' votes and the key court decisions, and is also used as a reference source to inform appeals.

The court sessions to review the appeals filed by the Mensalão scandal defendants are held on Wednesdays and Thursdays. In this last phase, two types of appeal are allowed: motions to clarify, used to clear up specific points in the award, and motions for reconsideration, which allow the decision to be reviewed further.
 
The trial of the Mensalão scandal was completed later last year, with 25 out of the 37 defendants convicted for participating in the corruption scheme that broke out under then-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (the scandal emerged in 2005). The Supreme proved that public funds were used to buy congressional votes in support for government policies.

Editors: Carolina Pimentel / Nira Foster
Translator: Mayra Borges

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