Source: Folha de S. Paulo, 19/07/2005

By Adriana Mattos

Thirty-seven entities signed yesterday, at the headquarters of Fiesp (Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo), a three-page manifesto entitled “Movement for Legality, against Arbitration and Corruption”. The action took place five days after the Federal Police took action to investigate possible tax crime at Daslu - the country's largest luxury goods store -, which resulted in the arrest of its owner, Eliana Tranchesi, for a few hours.

Written by the OAB, with the approval of Fiesp, as Folha learned, the manifesto repudiates the “violation of the dignity of the human person” and criticizes the actions of the PF “characterized by excess” in law firms and companies.

The document was presented and discussed in a closed-door meeting, which lasted two hours, with 87 sector leaders from areas such as banking (Febraban), capital markets (BM&F and Bovespa), union (CGT and Força Sindical) and legal ( São Paulo Association of the Public Ministry) among others. The main moment of the meeting was the discussion around the tone of the manifesto.
A group of representatives, led by Emerson Kapaz, from the Etco Ethics Defense Institute, defended the idea that the entities' position should not focus on events at Daslu.
"I will not sign this [the manifesto] if it is made available to the public with a focus on the specific case of the store," he said, according to Folha found out.

Luiz Flávio D'Urso, president of OAB-SP (Brazilian Bar Association), and Paulo Skaf, president of Fiesp, rebutted the position saying that this was clear in the document.

Minutes later, at a press conference also at Fiesp, the organization's command and the OAB insisted on saying that there was no relationship between the facts. "We are translating the voice and the will of Brazilian society," said D'Urso. “I never joined Daslu or met Eliana [Tranchesi]. Maybe I spoke to her once or twice. Our action is not just one case. It represents civil society, ”argued Skaf.

Pyrotechnics

The three-page document directly mentions the actions of the Federal Police. However, OAB, Fiesp and APMP, which represents the Public Ministry, avoided mentioning the name of the corporation in the criticisms made yesterday. "We did not go into the merit of the action, but in the pyrotechnic spectacle recently set up," said João Antonio Garreta Prates, president of APMP.

Only Paulo Pereira da Silva, Paulinho (Força Sindical), and José Roberto Batochio, member of Fiesp's legal council, were more direct. “I want to see the PF invade the union. If you do, we will face them ”, said Paulinho. "What exists [on the part of the PF] is an action to minimize the political crisis that the government has been experiencing," said Batochio.

On several occasions, the leaders of the OAB, businessmen and workers stated that the movement does not want to end the investigations. What there is, they say, is a concern with “the exaggeration and disproportionality of mega operations carried out in Brazilian companies, including with precautionary arrests that lead citizens to public execration, all without observing due process and the constitutional presumption of innocence” , according to the manifesto, which must be handed over to the Minister of Justice, Marcio Thomaz Bastos.

The PF already said last week that it did not commit arbitrariness in the last actions, carried out, according to her, "within the normal range" and to assist investigations.