The defense of Senator and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro asked Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) at least four times to concentrate the Dark Horse investigation in the hands of Justice André Mendonça. The goal was to take away from Justice Flávio Dino the parts of the case that involve congressional budget earmarks. Folha de S.Paulo and Globo's news portal g1 reported the filings.
The requests were made between July 13 and 29, according to Folha. The first two were addressed to the court's president, Edson Fachin, and the others to Dino himself, according to g1.
How the case is split
The investigation into the film, a biopic about former president Jair Bolsonaro, runs on two tracks. Mendonça, the first justice to take up the matter, examines 62.8 million reais transferred by Daniel Vorcaro, former owner of Banco Master, at Flávio Bolsonaro's request, and the possible use of part of that money to support former congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro in the United States, g1 reported. Dino oversees the inquiry into earmarks directed to organizations tied to the film's producer, Go Up. Folha reports that this portion stayed with him because earmarks fall under his docket at the court.
In one of the filings, the lawyers argued that Mendonça already served as rapporteur on two other petitions in the case and should take the rest. The defense said that of six earlier actions in the same batch of the investigation, five had gone to him.
"Manipulation of the rules," the defense says
The lawyers say the current split was engineered. They claim the petitions were filed inside ADPF 854, the STF case on congressional earmarks, to create an artificial hold for Dino over the facts. Under Brazilian court procedure, a rule called "prevenção" keeps related matters with the justice who examines them first.
"It was shown that the filing of the petitions within ADPF No. 854 was no accident, but rather a true manipulation of the rules of jurisdiction, in order to create an artificial and nonexistent prevention for Justice Flávio Dino over the facts," the lawyers wrote.
A filing dated July 28 repeated the argument and asked for the case to be reassigned.
"Had they been filed in the correct manner, that is, autonomously and without any attempt at artificial manipulation of jurisdiction, the requests that gave rise to Petition No. 16,070 would have been unequivocally assigned by prevention to Justice André Mendonça," the document says.
The dispute carries political weight. Mendonça joined the court on a nomination from Jair Bolsonaro; Dino on a nomination from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Folha reports. Neither Folha nor g1 reports a ruling on the requests, and the fight over jurisdiction remains pending. Meanwhile the case stays split: on Thursday (10), Dino authorized the Federal Police operation that served 49 search warrants on the film's financing, targeting federal congressman Mário Frias and Karina Gama, owner of Go Up. On Friday (11), Mendonça ordered the investigation files unsealed, according to g1.