Justice Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), released the search and seizure of the emails exchanged by all directors, members of the Board of Directors and of the Internal Audit Committee of Grupo Americanas. The company can still ask for reconsideration.
Moraes decided to protect only the emails exchanged between directors, administrators and auditors with the company’s internal and external lawyers. In this case, the messages are protected by the constitutional right to the inviolability of communications between client and lawyer.
Messages involving lawyers concern only interlocutors, and what was said there could only “become public by decision of those themselves”, highlighted Moraes. The minister stressed that his decision covers only communications between lawyers and other employees and managers of Americanas, but not all other communications covered by the decision of the Justice of São Paulo.
In the decision, Moraes argues that “the inviolability of the lawyer, due to his acts and manifestations in the exercise of the profession, finds limits of respect for the legislation, and cannot be used as a true protective shield against the practice of illicit activities”.
This Monday (3), the minister judged, on the merits, a complaint by the Americanas. For the company, the first instance of the Justice of São Paulo disrespected constitutional guarantees confirmed by the Supreme Court, for having authorized very broad searches of the company’s communications, without indicating what would be the specific object of the measure.
In February, Moraes granted an injunction (provisional decision) to suspend the search and seizure of the emails, but only until it decided on the merits of the matter.
With this Monday’s decision, the 2nd Regional Court of Business Competence and Arbitration of São Paulo is authorized to seize all emails exchanged in the last 10 years by directors, administrators and managers of Americanas, as well as employees of the finance areas and company accounting.
The measure must be carried out “in absolute secrecy”, ordered Moraes. An expert from the Justice Department of São Paulo should screen what may or may not be archived, excluding from the records messages that have lawyers as participants in the conversation.
The extensive search and seizure of the Americanas’ email boxes had been granted by the Justice of São Paulo at the request of Banco Bradesco, which claimed that it was necessary to preserve evidence regarding the accounting and financial fraud that recently caused millionaire losses to the Americanas’ creditors.
In January, the Grupo Americanas had a request for judicial recovery accepted by the 4th Corporate Court of Rio de Janeiro, after the revelation that accounting inconsistencies in the balance sheets released by the company would have hidden debts in the order of R$ 40 billion.
