Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (Brazil)

The Senate studied the creation of a commission, similar to the current CPIs, to investigate alleged failures of the Brazilian government in the military conflict with the neighboring country.

[2][3] In the 1988 Constitution, the CPIs are regulated in Article 58, Paragraph 3: "The parliamentary investigative commissions, which shall have powers of investigation inherent to judicial authorities, in addition to others provided for in the internal regulations of their respective Houses, shall be created by the Chamber of Deputies and by the Federal Senate, jointly or separately, upon request by one-third of their members, for the investigation of a specific fact and for a specified period, and their conclusions, if applicable, shall be forwarded to the Public Prosecutor's Office, for the purpose of promoting civil or criminal liability of the offenders.

After concluding the investigations, the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission may send its findings, if applicable, to the Public Prosecutor's Office, so that it can promote the civil or criminal liability of the accused.

The work schedule of a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission is determined by its members, who will define the investigations and the taking of testimonies.

Thus, the CPI cannot: It is a well-established jurisprudence of the Supreme Federal Court that the investigated or accused party has the possibility to remain silent, avoiding self-incrimination (HC 89269).

From this guarantee, the following rights arise for the person under investigation, and even for witnesses: a) to remain silent in the face of questions whose answers may imply self-incrimination; b) not to be arrested in flagrante for exercising this constitutional prerogative, on the pretext of committing the crime of disobedience (Article 330 of the Penal Code), nor for perjury (Article 342 of the same Code); and c) not to have silence interpreted against them.

Without this, the exercise of any of these powers – by any member, even by the president or the rapporteur of the CPI – is arbitrary and can be challenged or rectified through legal action, including constitutional remedies, especially habeas corpus and writ of mandamus.