Pandora's Box: DF court acquits Arruda and three other defendants for administrative improbity

Arruda was convicted in other actions for administrative improbity, which also date back to the Pandora's Box operation, which led the Superior Electoral Court, in September this year, to deny Arruda's candidacy registration for the government of the Federal District.

Three other defendants were also acquitted in the decision of the 1st Civil Panel of the Federal District Court of Justice, signed last Tuesday (13).

In a statement, José Roberto Arruda's defense stated that it was a "fair and technically correct decision, which honors the guarantees of due legal process." "a fair and technically correct decision, which honors the guarantees of due legal process", added the lawyer.

According to judge Teofilo Rodrigues Caetano Neto, the evidence had already been "declared to be illegal by the competent court in the previous case", which prevents it from being "revalidated or used in any other venue, as evidence obtained by illegal means is inadmissible".

The scandal that became known as Pandora's Box, or DEM's monthly allowance, involved the purchase of support from district deputies in the Legislative Chamber of the DF (CLDF) by the José Roberto Arruda government, in 2009.

That year, TV Globo revealed images of former governor José Roberto Arruda receiving a bag with R$50,000 from the hands of Durval Barbosa – who was the government's Secretary of Institutional Relations and later became the scheme's whistleblower.

The video was recorded in 2006, and gave rise to the investigations. At the time, Arruda reported that the money was a donation to purchase panettone that would be delivered to needy families in Brasília.

The former governor even presented four receipts, declaring the receipt of money "for small souvenirs and our Christmas campaign", from 2004 to 2007.

According to the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), Arruda forged and printed the four documents on the same day, at the GDF's official residence, in Águas Claras. The papers were then initialed by Durval Barbosa. The printer was seized by the Federal Police in 2010, and an examination proved the fraud.