Selma Rosane Santos Arruda (born 20 January 1963) is a Brazilian politician and retired judge. Although born in

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

, she has spent her political career representing

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...

, having served as state senator in 2019.

Judicial career

Arruda is an alumnus of the

Centro Universitário Ritter dos Reis The Centro Universitário Ritter dos Reis ("Ritter dos Reis University Center" in English), better known as UniRitter, is a university in Brazil, with two campuses in the cities of Canoas and Porto Alegre, the state capital of Rio Grande do Sul ...

. She served as a state judge in the state of Mato Grosso from 1995 to 2017. Arruda gained fame and notoriety as a judge for her anti-corruption campaign, earning her the nickname "the Moro of Mato Grosso" after

Sergio Moro Sergio Fernando Moro (; born 1 August 1972) is a Brazilian jurist, former federal judge, college professor, and politician. He was elected as a member of the Federal Senate for Paraná in October 2022. In 2015, he gained national attention as ...

, the head judge of

Operation Car Wash Operation Car Wash (, ) was a landmark anti-corruption probe in Brazil.Kurtenbach, S., & Nolte, D. (2017). Latin America's Fight against Corruption: The End of Impunity. GIGA Focus Lateinamerika, (03). Beginning in March 2014 as the investiga ...

. In 2015 she ordered the arrest of former governor

Silval Barbosa Silval Barbosa ( Borazópolis, April 26, 1961) is a Brazilian businessman and politician affiliated with the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB). He was governor of the State of Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, ...

on corruption charges. She retired from judicial office in March 2017 after serving as a judge for 22 years. In May 2019 Arruda was awarded the order of merit by the city council of

Cuiabá Cuiabá () is the capital city and the largest city of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. It is located near the geographical centre of South America and also forms the metropolitan area of Mato Grosso, along with the neighbouring town of Várz ...

for her fight against corruption.

Political career

In the

2018 Brazilian general election General elections were held in Brazil on 7 October 2018 to elect the president, National Congress of Brazil, National Congress and Governor (Brazil), state governors. As no candidate in the presidential election (and for the gubernatorial electi ...

Arruda, along with Jayme Campos, was elected to the national senate from the state of Mato Grosso. Arudda was the most voted candidate in the state of Mato Grosso that election. Strong themes of Arruda's senate campaign agenda included anti-corruption and encouraging private property. On 10 April 2019 Arruda was unanimously ordered to be dismissed by the Regional Electoral Court of Mato Grosso, rendering her ineligible to serve in public office along with state deputies Gilberto Possamai and Clerie Fabiana. However, the senator can still appeal to the Superior Electoral Court without having to leave the office, while the conviction is questioned judicially. Selma and the others were accused of breaking campaign rulers by hiring irregular advertising before the official campaign began. Arruda said she will appeal the decision in the federal courts. On 10 December 2019 by the vote of 6 to 1, the

Superior Electoral Court The Superior Electoral Court (, TSE) is the highest body of the Brazilian Election Justice, Brazilian Electoral Justice, which also comprises one Regional Electoral Court (Brazil), Regional Electoral Court (, TRE) in each of the 26 states and th ...

voted to disqualify Arruda from political office. On 18 September 2019 Arruda switched political parties and joined Podemos.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arruda, Selma 1963 births Living people People from Rio Grande do Sul Brazilian women judges Brazilian women in politics Social Liberal Party (Brazil) politicians Podemos (Brazil) politicians Members of the Federal Senate (Brazil) 20th-century Brazilian judges 21st-century Brazilian judges 20th-century women judges 21st-century women judges