Minister Flávio Dino, president of the First Panel of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), scheduled the trial of the criminal action against deputies Josimar Maranhãozinho (PL-MA), Pastor Gil (PL-MA) and alternate Bosco Costa (PL-SE) for March. They are accused of charging bribes to release parliamentary amendments. 
The trial was scheduled at the request of the rapporteur, Minister Cristiano Zanin, who released the action at the end of November, after completing the drafting of his vote. The case was scheduled for March 10th and 11th, in three sessions, two in the morning and one in the afternoon.
The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) asks for conviction of parliamentarians for passive corruption and criminal organization. According to the complaint, between January and August 2020, the defendants requested an undue advantage of R$1.6 million to release R$6.6 million in amendments to the municipality of São José de Ribamar (MA).
Partners
According to the investigations, the parliamentarians, together with cronies who acted as intermediaries, demanded a return of 25% of the amounts for amendments allocated to the health sector. Payments should be made by local managers. The scheme was denounced by Eudes Sampaio, mayor of São José de Ribamar, in November 2020.
This is the most advanced among several processes opened at the Supreme Court to investigate suspected irregularities in the release of parliamentary amendments. The cases are spread across different reports and progress at different rates.
Other side
During the process, Josimar Maranhãozinho declared to the Supreme Court that the PGR’s accusations against the parliamentarian “appear to be fragile and unfounded”.
Bosco Costa’s lawyers defended the rejection of the complaint due to lack of evidence. The defense told the Supreme Court that the accusation is based on “dialogues from third parties and handwritten notes unknown to Bosco”.
Pastor Gil’s defense maintains the illegality of the evidence obtained in the investigation as it understands that the case should have been initiated in the STF, and not in the Federal Court of Maranhão. The lawyers also added that the complaint is based on “hypotheses and conjectures”.
