Opposition Takes Case to Supreme Court Seeking Protection for Luchsinger

BRAZIL: Opposition Takes Case to Supreme Court Seeking Protection for Lobbyist Who Accuses Lula and Lulinha One Week Before Runoff

By Hotspotnews

One week before Brazil’s presidential runoff, opposition lawmakers have filed requests at the Supreme Federal Court (STF) seeking witness protection and the analysis of protective measures for businesswoman and lobbyist Roberta Luchsinger and her two daughters. The petition, signed by deputies including Sanderson (PL-RS), Marcel van Hattem (Novo), Luciano Zucco, and Bia Kicis, was sent to Justice André Mendonça, who is already the rapporteur of the inquiries in which she and Fábio Luís Lula da Silva (“Lulinha”), the president’s son, are under investigation for suspected influence peddling.

The move came immediately after Luchsinger’s exclusive interview with CNN Brasil. In it, she stated that Lulinha met “countless times” — and even weekly — with government ministers, that Lula was aware of the meetings, and that she intends to enter a plea-bargain agreement without sparing the president or his son. She also reported receiving around 50 death threats a day and publicly declared that if anything happens to her or her daughters, the blame will fall on Lula. She pushed back against the president’s earlier characterizations of her as a “crook” and comparisons to figures such as Daniel Vorcaro.

The lawmakers asked the Court to examine the granting of urgent protective measures, including under the Maria da Penha Law, and her possible inclusion in witness-protection programs. Their argument is that her public statements and expressed fear require an immediate institutional response, regardless of the final outcome of the ongoing investigations. Mendonça is the natural recipient because he already handles two of the three inquiries involving Luchsinger and Lulinha — opened on the basis of material gathered in Operation Sem Desconto and probes into attempted deals with the Ministry of Health and Dataprev. A third inquiry is under Justice Flávio Dino.

On the government side, Lula responded in a note saying he is completely unaware of the facts she described, that he never had any contact with her, and that the timing of the interview “raises suspicion” just before the runoff. Lulinha’s defense has challenged the validity of some of the evidence and the timing of the disclosures.

The episode brings together three elements the opposition considers serious: an individual already under investigation who says she is willing to cooperate and points to the president and his son; reports of threats following public criticism by Lula; and the fact that all of this is unfolding in the final stretch of an extremely close election. For the deputies who filed the requests, the state cannot treat the safety of someone presenting herself as a potential witness as a matter of political convenience. For the Planalto Palace, it is a campaign maneuver. What Justice André Mendonça decides — or declines to decide — in the coming days will affect both the course of the inquiries and the public debate one week before the vote.

Sources:
CNN Brasil, Estadão, UOL, Metrópoles, Jornal da Cidade Online, Poder360, and reporting on the inquiries under the rapporteurs André Mendonça and Flávio Dino.

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