The First Specialized Panel of the Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region (TRF2) upheld the convictions of misdemeanors Aniz Abrahão David, Anísio, and Ailton Guimarães Jorge, Captain Guimarães, and 21 other defendants in Operation Hurricane 2. Held in 2007, the action of the Federal Police targeted a corruption scheme involving public agents to guarantee the illegal exploitation of bingos and slot machines in Rio de Janeiro. The judgment decided on the merits of the criminal appeal that was distributed to federal judge Simone Schreiber in June 2021, after the retirement of the previous rapporteur of the case, federal judge Abel Gomes. For the crime of active corruption, Ailton Guimaraes Jorge and Aniz Abrahão David must serve a sentence of nine years, five months and 10 days in prison, in addition to paying a fine, according to the judge’s vote. “In their allegations, the defenses of the accused maintained that the convictions in the first instance would have been based only on dialogues captured in telephone interception. They also defended the ineptitude of the complaint by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, for not having described in detail the conduct practiced that would qualify as crimes. Furthermore, they claimed that the exploitation of bingos in Brazil would be legally permitted at the time of the facts”, says the federal court. According to TRF2, Simone Schreiber countered the arguments, understanding that the complaints correctly specified the conduct of each of the defendants and that they were based on sufficient evidence of the commission of the appointed crimes. She recalled that the evidence considered by the court of first degree included precautionary measures of telephone interception and search and seizure, among other measures authorized by the court. For the judge, “it can be said that the documentary evidence and the precautionary evidence were widely subjected to contradictory and that the defense had all the legal and constitutional means to discuss their probative force and the veracity of the facts based on them.” The magistrate also refuted the argument that bingo halls would be legally allowed to operate in the country at the time of the outbreak of Operation Hurricane, understanding that the exploitation of electronic game machines constitutes “the criminal misdemeanor of gambling, as well as the crimes smuggling [de peças eletrônicas de importação proibida] and against the popular economy”. Rapporteur Simone Schreiber analyzed the conduct of the accused, dividing them into “echelons”. According to the Federal Justice, in the classification, they could be part of the top of the slot machine exploitation scheme; the group of entrepreneurs who rented game machines for bingo halls; the so-called “front line” group, in charge of co-opting and paying bribes to public agents; criminal group officials; the lawyers who provided services to the group; or the public agents themselves, including civil, military and federal police, among others. In all, in the three processes of the Hurricane operations judged, 48 people answered for accusations covering smuggling, passive and active corruption, concussion and conspiracy. In the first instance, the process was judged in 2012. In addition to the rapporteur, the judge Andréa Cunha Esmeraldo, reviewer, and federal judge Andréa Daquer Barsotti composed the trial session. Representing the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, Márcia Morgado was the regional prosecutor.
Agência Brasil
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