Chamber President Hugo Motta (R-PB) minimized the lack of agreement on the anti-factional bill. He said it is possible for the PL and PT to reach an agreement even if they seek changes to the text or postponement of the vote. New predictions are that the project will be voted on next Tuesday.
– It does not seem that these parties (PT and PL) are against it, they just asked for a postponement. I believe you will vote yes on that matter.
Following criticism from security experts, the Palacio do Planalto, right-wing governors, base and opposition politicians, Anti-Faction Project rapporteur Guilherme Delite (PP-SP) submitted the fourth version of the document on Wednesday night. During the plenary session, he requested a vote on the bill next Tuesday, and the Speaker of the House agreed.
With the new wording, the rapporteur adjusted his opinion to meet the government’s request. However, Planalto’s preliminary legal assessment was that Derrite did not meet the requirements set out and the text remained improvised.
– Discussions take place on a daily basis. This rapporteur demonstrated maturity today when he spoke to the government, spoke to leaders and called for Tuesday’s vote. This means being open to dialogue and political construction to build the best proposals in the security field, Motta said after this Wednesday’s meeting.
For example, regarding allegations regarding the funding of Federal Police (PF) activities, Ministry of Justice officials continue to point out problems in new reports.
The department previously noted that Delight’s third opinion provides for the general allocation of resources resulting from the seizure of assets from drug traffickers and members of criminal organizations to state or local public safety funds.
The government’s understanding is that if the investigation is federal, the amount should be returned to the fund that funds the PF’s activities. To resolve this disagreement, Delight stipulated in a new text that the seized assets would be allocated to the “Fund for Equipment and Operations of Final Operations of the Federal Police (FUNAPOL) in the event of a criminal investigation by the Federal Police.”
However, the ministry’s engineers insist that this amount should be allocated to the National Anti-Narcotics Fund (Funad), which also funds the PF, since it concerns the fight against drug trafficking.
The new report also created the term “ultra-violent criminal organization” to characterize the crimes of “criminal factions.” This section seeks to avoid duplicative legislation, as there is already legislation that specifically deals with organized crime crimes.
Earlier, Mr Planalto and the Ministry of Justice criticized Mr Delight’s third report over the enactment of new laws that would also deal with “criminal organizations”.
In the new article, Delight defines it as follows: “A criminal faction is considered an ultra-violent criminal organization, private militia or paramilitary organization whose purpose is to control territory or economic activities by the use of violence, coercion, intimidation or other coercive means in order to carry out the crimes represented by this Act,” the article says.
According to the bill, crimes committed by ultra-violent criminal organizations are punishable by 20 to 40 years in prison, far more severe than the three to eight years in prison for regular criminal organizations.
A coordinating member of the government said various areas of government understood that the new crime classification would not solve the problems of confusion between crimes that arose in the previous report.
In a memo published today, the Ministry of Justice criticized the idea of enacting an “autonomy law” called the “Legal Framework for Combating Organized Crime” that would change other laws already in force, such as the “Criminal Organizations Law.” This could cause “real legal confusion,” according to the ministry’s engineers.
“This regulatory confusion could benefit criminals who are being investigated in cases that have already been initiated,” the department said.
Despite making partial concessions on this point, Delight’s report still foresees the enactment of new legislation. To this end, he created a new terminology to distinguish criminal organizations. This crime is currently classified as an “ultra-violent criminal organization.”
According to the Ministry of Justice, there was an error in the legislative technique. The government engineer believes that criminal lawyers will apply current law, which provides for lighter penalties, in this case involving a criminal organization.
The failure was seen by the government as a result of “rushing” the vote on the document. Delight also begins using the term “criminal faction”, another demand of the government. “Criminal factions are considered ultra-violent criminal organizations, private militias or paramilitary organizations that aim to control territory or economic activities by using violence, coercion, intimidation or other coercive means in order to carry out the crimes represented by this Act,” the new edition of the rapporteur states.
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