MP and Police ignore injunction, seize money and machine devices in Winfil

In order to comply with the decision of the judge Viviane de Faria Miranda prohibiting the seizure of machines, the MP and the Civil Police attacked by another aspect, since the injunction was not revoked, and went behind the materialization of what they understand as "crime."

The Judiciary issued a writ of search and apprehension not of machines, but of "objects directly related to the exploitation of games of chance." As the house has the injunction preventing the seizure of machines, the path of action was to seize the money found in them and their inside money devices, as well as the controller boards. That is, they only left cabinets and monitors.

As much as the owners and their lawyers argued that they had the injunction, the warrant moved forward, even with the support received from the clients, who shouted "we want to play," an inalienable right of any individual with full rights. GMB received the video from inside the venue showing the argument of Winfil’s lawyer, Laerte Gschwenter. 

The owners were taken to the police station for signature of a detailed term (expedient adopted to record a fact typified as infraction of minor offensive potential).

According to present witnesses, the police arrived at the scene with guns in hand, filming and with a warrant of search and apprehension. During the action the lawyers of the house discussed with the police insisting that the action could not be carried out since on Friday the judge of the 3rd Public Treasury Court gave injunction decision forbidding the police to seize machines in Winfil.

In response to the arguments of the lawyers, the prosecutor affirmed that the assessment was not only for exploration of games of chance , but, that there were other irregularities that justified the police intervention in Winfil.

The police continued to execute court orders and search the gambling house, collecting notepads and money that were on Winfil's slot machines, as well as controlling access to the house at the door on Avenida Eduardo Prado.

The search and seizure warrant that gave rise to the action yesterday afternoon in Porto Alegre was issued by the Criminal Court of the Regional Forum of Tristeza. The order of the search warrant, signed by Judge Joni Victoria Simões, said:

"Thus, I welcome the manifestation of the public prosecutor, then present the necessary legal presuppositions and evident the public interest in the measure, deferring the issuance of search warrant, in order to seize objects directly related to the exploitation of games of chance and other goods of origin of the offense, strictly related to them, that may be there, in order to benefit the investigations in search of the real truth. Expand the warrant for Avenida Cavalhada, 5148 ( Winfil), Cavalhada District, in this Capital, with validity period of ten (10) days, to be served during the day, from 7:00 am to 7:00 p.m., and the Police Authority shall submit a detailed report of the investigation, within a period of 10 (ten) days. Legal proceedings ". (Mrs. Joni Victoria Simões - Judge of Law)

Since last Saturday, the establishment has been offering cash bets to its clients backed by a court injunction that prohibits the seizure of slot machines. The injunction was granted last Friday in responde to a Winfil’s request. The decision was made by Judge Viviane de Faria Miranda, 3rd Court of the Public Treasury of Porto Alegre. According to the company's communications advisor, more than 2,000 people have visited the gaming house placing bets.