The attorney-general sings Bob Marley! Find out why!

Claudio Fonteles advocates breaking bank secrecy without a judge's authorization.
Attorney General Claudio Fonteles once again defended yesterday that the Public Prosecutor's Office should have direct access to data protected by bank secrecy, without the need for judicial authorization, as a way to facilitate investigations. The idea, adopted in Italy, is criticized at the STF (Supreme Federal Court).

"Are we going to compare this to a prosecutor's or federal prosecutor's gratuitous curiosity? Does this mean malicious conduct? We have written procedures, defined as instruction procedures. This does not take away the Judiciary's power," Fonteles said. According to Fonteles' suggestion, the prosecutor should request the information from the financial institution and, if the person under investigation felt wronged, it would be up to them to complain in court.

"If the person feels harmed, they simply need to go to the Judiciary to challenge it. But the Public Prosecutor's Office cannot be controlled in the formation of evidence; this control must be done afterwards," said the attorney general. The flexibilization of bank and tax secrecy is part of Encla 2004 (National Strategy to Combat Money Laundering), a kind of commitment signed between the government, Public Prosecutor's Office and the Judiciary.

The goals for combating money laundering were established in December of last year. At a meeting in Pirenópolis (GO), Fonteles defended the need for the Public Prosecutor's Office to be able to break secrecy without needing judicial authorization. On that occasion, the OAB was against the measure, considering it illegal. Yesterday, at the second international meeting on money laundering and asset recovery, held by the Ministry of Justice and Banco do Brasil, Fonteles once again defended the idea.

At the event, he had Bob Marley's song "I shot the sheriff" (freely translated as I shot the sheriff) played, in response to STF Justice Marco Aurélio de Mello. The day before yesterday, in the ruling on the Public Prosecutor's Office's investigative powers, Mello compared prosecutors and district attorneys to sheriffs. The justice is opposed to criminal investigations conducted by the Public Prosecutor's Office.

An STF justice said it would be unconstitutional to allow the Public Prosecutor's Office access to bank data protected by secrecy without judicial authorization. For him, this understanding is unanimous among the court's 11 members. The STF only admits the possibility of federal prosecutors and district attorneys having direct access to confidential financial information if the investigation involves public interest. The Federal Constitution also allows CPIs to break secrecy without a court order.