Bruno Calfat Advogados represented the bank FonteCindam S.A., the former President of the Brazilian Central Bank Luiz Antônio Andrade Gonçalves, and the Estate of Roberto José Steinfeld in a motion for reconsideration filed within the scope of a Special Account Audit (Tomada de Contas Especial) before the Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts (Tribunal de Contas da União – TCU – an independent government body responsible for auditing public expenditures and overseeing the use of federal funds).
The proceeding aimed to investigate the regularity of U.S. dollar sale operations conducted by the Brazilian Central Bank to FonteCindam bank in 1999.
The accounts were initially deemed irregular by the TCU, which ordered the payment of R$ 522.3 million by the petitioners, imposed a fine of R$ 1 million on Luiz Antônio Gonçalves, and set a fine of R$ 1 billion against FonteCindam bank. In the occasion, the court also ordered the freezing and seizure of the petitioners’ assets for a period of one year.
The petitioners filed an appeal against the asset freezing and seizure, which was partially granted, resulting in the revocation of those precautionary measures. On the merits of the special account audit, the petitioners submitted a motion for reconsideration challenging the decision that had rejected the accounts and imposed the fines, demonstrating the lawfulness of the dollar purchase operations carried out by FonteCindam.
In ruling on the motion for reconsideration, the reporting judge, accepted the defense’s arguments and recognized the regularity of the financial operations, thereby overturning the penalties previously imposed, because “[t]he Central Bank’s actions were carried out perfectly, given the circumstances of the situation at that time. I believe the Central Bank’s conduct was fully justifiable from both legal and economic standpoints, highlighting the level of subjectivity involved in weighing such a delicate and difficult decision by the Central Bank’s managers.”