MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Mounting evidence against Lula da Silva at Brazil's Supreme Court
Rousseff appointed Lula da Silva to the chief of staff job March 16 to help her battle the impeachment effort. 
Justice Gilmar Mendes temporarily banned Lula's nomination to the Cabinet saying it was an attempt to shield him from possible detention in corruption probes. 
Justice Teori Zavascki requested that two other motions also banning Lula from assuming a Cabinet position be judged tougher with Mendes' earlier ruling. 
Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski said a new date will be set to rule on Lula da Silva's appointment. The full court will make the final decision. Brazil's Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended a meeting that was to decide whether former President Lula da Silva can be his successor's chief of staff. The delay came three days after the lower house of Congress voted to begin impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff. She is accused of using accounting tricks in managing the federal budget.
Rousseff appointed Lula da Silva to the chief of staff job March 16 to help her battle the impeachment effort.
But last month, Supreme Court Judge Gilmar Mendes temporarily banned Lula's nomination to the Cabinet post, saying it was an attempt to shield him from possible detention in corruption probes. Under Brazilian law, only the Supreme Court can authorize the investigation, imprisonment and trial of Cabinet members and legislators.
On Wednesday, Justice Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki requested that two other motions also banning Lula da Silva from assuming a Cabinet position be judged tougher with Mendes' earlier ruling.
Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski said a new date will be set to rule on Lula da Silva's appointment. The full court will make the final decision.
Also on Wednesday, Judge Maria Thereza de Assis Moura of the Supreme Electoral Court authorized federal police to gather evidence to back investigations of alleged irregularities during Rousseff's re-election campaign in 2014.
Brazil's main opposition party last year asked the court to investigate whether Rousseff's campaign was financed by illegal money, including donations originating from the huge kickback scandal that has engulfed state-run oil company Petrobras.
If the court finds illegal funds were used in her campaign or other irregularities, it could invalidate Rousseff's election as well as that of Vice-President Michel Temer, leading to new elections.
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Read all commentsIf he escapes, let's call him “Houdini”! :o))
Apr 21st, 2016 - 02:03 pm 0The idea that the fat cow rushed to appoint the LullaRat as Cabinet minister, in order to restore the economy is a load of bs........her rush was motivated by one thing, and one thing only - to allow the LullaRat to escape the claws of Judge Moro, and to have his crimes judged by the Supreme Court, where the Rat believes it would be easier to stall the process or to even subvert it completely. It is obvious that after 8 years of total mismanagement , absolutely no-one, would have the slightest capacity, or influence, to turn the economy around in a few days....so why the desperate rush to have Lula appointed, other than to protect him from Judge Moro ???
Apr 21st, 2016 - 05:19 pm 0The LullaRat's crimes - mainly stealing, corruption, influence trafficking for personal gain - are serious and more evidence is surfacing daily, especialy now that Marcelo Odebrecht is negotiating a plea bargain....to save his ass he'll spill the beans on the LullaRat.
2 Jack Bauer “to allow the Lulla to escape the claws of Judge Moro” Which appears to be decidedly prudent given that the good judge doesn't abide by the rule of law and appears to to have displayed a remarkable propensity for bias.
Apr 22nd, 2016 - 02:17 am 0”The rule of law
Lula’s detention and interrogation also raise questions about the way the judges, prosecutors and police involved in the Car Wash investigations are using their power. After Lula was interrogated, Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurélio Mello publicly questioned Judge Sérgio Moro’s decision to make the interrogation coercive, meaning that the police came unannounced to Lula’s residence and demanded that he accompany them to a secure location for questioning.
Aurélio Mello said that coercive interrogations were usually employed only when the suspect or witness refused to testify voluntarily, something that did not apply in Lula’s case. Moro, a federal judge and a key player in the Car Wash investigations, claimed his decision was taken to avoid public demonstrations for and against Lula – which happened anyway once the news broke.
Anti-corruption investigators have used other questionable tactics. Indefinite detention has been used to force people to testify, as in the case of Odebrecht CEO Marcelo Odebrecht, who has been held for almost nine months so far. Similarly, plea bargains can allow self-interested witnesses to shift responsibility to former co-conspirators.
Witness testimony has been selectively leaked to a willing media, which then exposes details of claims and counter-claims in a storm of publicity, doing little to help the due process of resolving these highly complicated charges.
As the Brazilian political scientist Leonard Avritzer argues, media-driven anti-corruption campaigns tend to demonise certain culprits while remaining uncritical of others. This is a serious problem for the rule of law, regardless of individuals’ guilt or innocence.
https://emergingequity.org/2016/03/08/brazil-looks-almost-ungovernable-b
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