Lula unlikely to respond to opposition request to remove Paulo Gonet

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is not expected to act on an opposition request to remove Brazil’s prosecutor-general, Paulo Gonet. The assessment at the Planalto Palace is that Lula will not “prejudge” or “condemn in advance” Gonet.

“

prejudge

Opposition senators sent the request to Lula on September 2, the same day Estadão reported on conversations showing a close relationship between Gonet and Daniel Vorcaro, the former owner of Banco Master. The contacts included phone calls and messages reportedly mediated by lawyer Ciro Soares.

In the conversations, Gonet allegedly said he missed Vorcaro and called the banker a “machine.” He also accepted an invitation to a whisky tasting in London and asked that his son be invited. Federal police recovered the records from Vorcaro’s phone during an investigation into crimes allegedly committed by the banker. The case is before Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court, with Justice André Mendonça as rapporteur.

“

condemn in advance

A member of the Workers’ Party campaign said the Prosecutor-General’s Office represents all three branches of government and that choosing its head does not fall solely to Lula. The article notes, however, that Lula ignored the three-name shortlist prepared by the National Association of Federal Prosecutors when he appointed Gonet in November 2023. Jair Bolsonaro had also bypassed the list in 2019 when he appointed Augusto Aras, who was later succeeded by Gonet.

“

machine