Brazil: Arrest warrant against former planning minister revoked

Supreme Court Justice Dias Toffoli granted a request to revoke the arrest warrant against former Planning Minister Paulo Bernardo, lodged by his defense.

In his ruling, issued today (Jun. 29), the justice stipulates that the São Paulo court overseeing the case should evaluate the need, if any, of Bernardo's complying with a number of precautionary measures as a result of his imprisonment, as laid out by Brazil's criminal law.

According to Bernardo's lawyers, the justice's decision made clear that the grounds for his arrest were vague and that the legal requirements for his preventive arrest were not to be found.

The former minister was arrested preventively on June 23, in Brasília, as part of Operation Brazil Cost, launched by the Federal Police as a spinoff of Operation Car Wash.

Paulo Bernardo is under scrutiny for having allegedly taken part in a corruption scheme involving the payment of over $30 million in kickbacks to a number of officials at the Ministry of Planning, Budget, and Management, from 2010 to 2015—the period he served as minister of the same government department.

According to investigators, he received funds from a fraud scam targeting contracts on the management of loans, known as empréstimos consignados, to public officials. In Brazil, this form of loan, which became widespread in the country after it was officially introduced, in 2003, has lower interest rates, as installments are deducted from borrowers' own payroll.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira