The defense of Francisco Maximiano, a partner at Need Medicines, called this Wednesday (28) in the Supreme Court to ask that the practitioner be authorized for failing to testify at the CPI of Covid.
His presence in the commission is scheduled for next Wednesday (4).
Lawyers say Maximiano left for India last Sunday (25) to meet with Bharat Biotech, the lab that produces the Covaxin vaccine. And they ask that the entrepreneur should not be the target of force-driving when the police take someone to give evidence.
India on Friday (23) announced the termination of the Memorandum of Understanding signed with Necid, which operates as the commercial representative of the laboratory in Brazil. The two firms also held talks with the health ministry for a batch of vaccines, but the sale was suspended due to suspicions of irregularities in the process.
In the document to the STF, the lawyers do not inform the forecast of the entrepreneur’s return to the country. See below an article on the CPI schedule for the first week of August:
Covid gives first testimony after CPI summit holiday
Maximiano’s defense wants Minister Rosa Weber, the case’s exponent, to review a decision issued in June.
At the time, the minister defined that Francisco Maximiano’s presence was mandatory, as the documents presented did not allow him to be classified as an “investigator”, but as a “witness”. In this decision, Rosa Weber acknowledged:
- Maximian’s right to remain silent in the face of objectionable questions;
- Entrepreneur’s right to obtain legal aid;
- and the right not to suffer physical or moral constraints by the members of the committee.
Lawyers now believe that the new facts clarify Maximian’s position as per the investigation. The defense points to the statements of MPs in CPI sessions, explaining the procedures opened by the participants of the essential and investigative bodies.
In June, Maximiano also told the CPI that he could not attend the first scheduled date because he had traveled to India and was in a sanitary quarantine. Remember in the video below:
Waldo Cruz: Francisco Maximiano, partner of Necessid Medicos, says he is not going to the CPI
“Furthermore, it should be noted that the aggravating factor is also being investigated by the Federal Police, the Federal Public Ministry and the Federal Comptroller General for the same facts that led them to the CPI of the pandemic, namely: Covaxin Vaccine. Negotiations between Need Medicines and the Ministry of Health for the acquisition of, and partner status of the mentioned company, of the offending party.
In 2018, the STF defined that individuals investigated cannot be the target of coercive conduct – that is, taken in for questioning by the police. This rule does not apply to witnesses.
The counsel also wants the practitioner to have guaranteed the “right to remain silent” without leaving any doubt in this regard, so that the parliamentary committee does not conclude that the appellant can be arrested.
In the request, he described what he believed to be barriers posed by lawmakers to deputies in the collegiate—among them, in the testimony of Nessidade director Emanuela Madredes.
In Medred’s first attempt to testify, the defense’s strategy of resorting to the right of silence for all senators’ questions generated reactions from the commission, which called on the Supreme Court to clarify the scope of the privilege.
Minister Luiz Faux, the STF’s president, said at the time that it was up to the CPI whether a deponent violates the right to remain silent by not answering the questions asked. Check out the video below:
Fox: ‘It is up to the CPI of Kovid to decide on measures against silent deniers’
