The minister of the Institutional Relations Secretariat, Gleisi Hoffmann, stated, this Wednesday (12), that structural changes in the Anti-Faction bill, prepared by the government, compromise the effectiveness in combating criminal factions.
Issues regarding criminal classification, seizure of assets, decapitalization of the Federal Police (PF) and the non-repeal of sections of the Criminal Organizations Law are the four non-negotiable points for the government, according to Gleisi.
Gleisi met with the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowskithis afternoon, to discuss the topic given the possibility of the text being voted on today by the Chamber of Deputies. The minister stated that the decision to draft the text rests with the President of the House, Hugo Motta, but that it would be important to have more time to negotiate with parliamentarians and state the government’s position.
In addition to the four fundamental points, according to the minister, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security is carrying out a more detailed assessment and should release a technical note on other points in the report by deputy Guilherme Derrite (PP-SP). The minister highlighted that the government is prepared to make the necessary highlights and debates, if the project is voted on today.
“We believe that, due to the complexity of the matter, it would be important for us to have more time to round off all the points and for Brazil to actually have a law to combat criminal factions that is efficient and effective”, he said, in a press interview at Palácio do Planalto.
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Gleisi said he spoke with government leaders in Parliament about the vote, but, if it does not take place, he wants to meet personally with President Hugo Motta to discuss the issue.
The Antifaction PL was forwarded to the Chamber on October 31st and, within a few days, rapporteur Guilherme Derrite presented the final text, with changes to the versions. Among the setbacks, the deputy defended the equation of factions with terrorism and that the PF could have a weakened performance with the supposed need for authorizations from state governors. He retreated and said that the PF’s powers will be maintained.
Four points
The first point questioned by the government concerns criminal classification. According to Gleisi, the government defends the criminal type of criminal faction, differentiating it from a criminal organization.
“The criminal faction is a more elaborate organization, it has territorial dominance, it has economic dominance, it has interstate, transnational operations. A criminal organization is a more elementary type, from four people who commit crimes you can already characterize an organization”, he explained.
In the text, the rapporteur creates the criminal type of structuring social domain which, for Gleisi, is even difficult from a didactic point of view.
The minister also said that Derrite’s final text does not expressly revoke articles of the Criminal Organizations Law (Law 12,850/2013), bringing legal uncertainty. “We are going to have two pieces of legislation in force, which will be very bad, from a judicial point of view,” he said.
Furthermore, according to the minister, the report removes the possibility of extraordinary forfeiture, that is, the immediate seizure of criminals’ assets.
“We are looking for the financial asphyxiation of the criminal faction. We put in the project that these factions lose their assets, lose all their material, from the moment the investigation begins. In the report, this will only happen after the final judgment has been reached,” said Gleisi.
This Tuesday (11), the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, also expressed concern about this issue and said that this could compromise the performance of the Federal Revenue and ongoing investigations into the activities of organized crime in the fuel sector.
Finally, the minister of the Institutional Relations Secretariat stated that the government considers the decapitalization of the PF “quite serious”.
“The rapporteur went back on not removing the powers of the Federal Police, but left the decapitalization of the Federal Police, by emptying all federal funds, by dividing these funds, distributing them among the states and leaving nothing for the Federal Government”, he explained.
“This worries us a lot because the Federal Police needs resources for its operations,” added Gleisi.
