Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry (Function – Jurisdiction – Investigative Nature)

Abstract

The legal opinion examines the procedural situation of Cláudio Francisco Vieira before the Joint Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry of the National Congress, which requested him to produce personal documents. The author argues that the CPI has an administrative and investigative, not jurisdictional, character, and that its powers are restricted to those expressly provided by law: ordering investigations, taking statements, examining witnesses and requesting documents from public bodies, not from private individuals. He concludes that the client, formally treated as a witness, has the right to silence, to legal assistance and to adversarial proceedings, and may refuse to produce private documents, due to lack of legal provision and based on art. 5, II, of the Federal Constitution, with the threat of legal penalties in case of refusal being illegal.