The Senate approved today (28) the creation of the Covid-19 Pandemic Observatory Parliamentary Front, intended to oversee and monitor the legal and health measures taken from the final report of the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) of the Pandemic, approved in the last Tuesday (26). Proposal goes to enactment.
The Senate Resolution Project (PRS) that proposed the creation of the Parliamentary Front was voted in today’s session as an off-the-schedule item, after a request by senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP). Randolfe was the vice president of the CPI.
“It is a parliamentary front like many others that we have here in the scope of the Senate, which will not entail any cost for the National Congress and the Senate. And it has a goal: to monitor the developments of the CPI on the Pandemic and monitor public policies on the pandemic in our country”, explained Randolfe, when requesting the vote on the proposal in plenary.
For the PRS rapporteur, Senator Zenaide Maia (PROS-RN), the parliamentary front is important to ensure the accountability of those involved in acts or omissions that aggravated the results of the pandemic in the country and to ensure the investigation of fraudulent actions in the context of combat to the pandemic.
Report
O CPI final report suggested the indictment of President Jair Bolsonaro for nine crimes ranging from common crimes, provided for in the Penal Code; to crimes of responsibility, according to the Impeachment Law. There is also citation of crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
In addition to the President of the Republic, another 77 people, including the president’s three sons, ministers, former ministers, federal deputies, doctors and businessmen are on the list. There are also two companies: Need Medicines and VTCLog. With that, there are 80 requests for indictments in the report, in total.
Yesterday, CPI members delivered copies of the report the Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, and the Minister of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Alexandre de Moraes. Independent and opposition senators, who were the majority in the CPI, defend that Aras “fulfills his role” and follows up on the facts found by the commission.
As a political tribunal, a parliamentary inquiry commission cannot, by itself, punish any citizen. Despite being able to recommend indictments, the deepening of investigations and the eventual offering of a complaint depend on other institutions. In the case of the president, ministers of state, deputies and senators, this is up to the attorney general of the Republic, head of the Federal Public Ministry (MPF).
Parliamentary Front
Parliamentary Fronts are associations of parliamentarians from various parties to debate a particular topic of interest to society. They can be composed only by senators or mixed, formed by deputies and senators. The creation of a Parliamentary Front depends on the approval of a specific project, as happened today.
