A pending response from a telephone carrier has delayed a decision by Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes on whether to authorize a formal police investigation into federal lawmaker Alfredo Gaspar (PL-AL), the running mate of presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), over an allegation of estupro de vulnerável, a crime in the Brazilian Penal Code covering sexual acts with children under 14 or with people unable to consent. According to Folha de S.Paulo, the Federal Police told the justice's office this week that it had completed the ordered steps, including obtaining registration data from phone companies, except for one carrier that did not reply. Gaspar denies the accusation.
People close to Gilmar Mendes, the court's longest-serving justice, told Folha that his office does not consider the inquiry stage finished until the missing information is delivered, which postpones any ruling. The case rapporteur had been waiting for the Federal Police to wrap up its work and for an opinion from the Prosecutor-General's Office before deciding whether to open a formal investigation, as Folha itself reported in early August. The delay was also reported by the outlet Brasil 247.
The accusation and Gaspar's response
The accusation against Gaspar was made on March 27 by lawmaker Lindbergh Farias (PT-RJ) and senator Soraya Thronicke, of Mato Grosso do Sul, during the reading of the final report of the congressional committee that investigated fraud at the national social security institute (INSS), for which Gaspar served as rapporteur. According to Poder360, the two said their colleague had committed estupro de vulnerável and had fathered a child as a result of the alleged crime, without presenting evidence. In April, Gaspar had genetic material collected on his own initiative, in a court proceeding in the state of Alagoas, and sent a formal letter to the head of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, offering to undergo a DNA test. He also filed criminal complaints against Farias and Thronicke for slander, false accusation, defamation and coercion during proceedings. The criminal complaint filed by his adversaries against him is under review at the Prosecutor-General's Office.
In August the case took a new turn. A merchant told the Chamber of Deputies' internal Legislative Police that he had received and passed on R$ 16,500 to a young woman so that she would accuse the lawmaker, according to Gazeta do Povo, and pointed to an alleged scheme to fabricate the complaint. Farias denied any role in such a scheme and asked the Supreme Court to nullify the deposition, taken as part of the Legislative Police's own internal inquiry. The Chamber forwarded the deposition to Gilmar Mendes, and Flávio Bolsonaro ruled out replacing his running mate.
Gaspar has pressed for a quick conclusion. "Honor demands that this matter be concluded. We want to go to the very end, we want to do the DNA test and put an end to this talk", he told Poder360 on August 6, when he said he believed Gilmar Mendes "does not like" him because of his work on the INSS committee, while adding that he trusts the justice's impartiality. In an interview with Oeste magazine published this Friday (28), the lawmaker said he had been the victim of "the biggest fake news in Brazil's political history". Maria Claudia Bucchianeri, the legal coordinator of Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign, told Poder360 that the defense will ask the Supreme Court to speed up the genetic comparison.
"A person accused of something as infamous as this, what more could he have done? He sent a letter to Andrei Rodrigues saying: 'I want to do my DNA test. Please call me in, collect the DNA, identify who was born of this alleged crime and, please, protect and put an end to this.' We never received any response", Bucchianeri said.
A state prosecutor for 24 years, former chief prosecutor and former public security secretary of Alagoas, Gaspar was elected to Congress in 2022 and left the União Brasil party this year to lead the PL in his home state and accept the invitation to join Flávio Bolsonaro's ticket. The next step depends on the missing carrier's reply: once the Federal Police forwards the information, Gilmar Mendes, who has set no deadline for the decision, will be able to rule on whether to authorize the investigation. Until then, Gaspar remains the target of a preliminary inquiry and denies the accusation.