José Mohamed Janene ( Santo Inácio, September 12, 1955 –

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, September 14, 2010) was a Brazilian

businessman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

, cowman and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He had many farms and ran many companies, mostly in

Londrina Londrina (, literally "Little London") is a city located in the north of the state of Paraná (state), Paraná, South Region, Brazil, and is 388 km (241 miles) away from the state capital, Curitiba. It is the second largest city in the state and f ...

, where he lived. He became notable via

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and by being involved in the

Mensalão scandal The Mensalão scandal (, ) was a major parliamentary alleged vote-buying scandal by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration that threatened to bring down his government in 2005. ''Mensalão'' is a neologism, an augmentative variant of the w ...

. He was the first and only Muslim to ever be elected to the Brazilian national congress.

Involvement in Mensalão

At the time of the Mensalão scandal, Janene was the Progressive Party leader in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

and was accused of having received R$ 4.1 million from the scheme operated by

advertiser Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of interest to consumers. It is typically used ...

Marcos Valério. Among the 19

congressmen A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The ...

involved in the scheme named "valerioduto", Janene was the last one to be tried by the Chamber. Although the

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

was initiated on October 17, 2005, the Ethics committee of the Chamber delayed for over 13 months voting on the report that recommended the

revocation Revocation is the act of wikt:recall, recall or annulment. It is the cancelling of an act, the recalling of a grant or privilege, or the making void (law), void of some deed previously existing. A temporary revocation of a grant or privilege is c ...

of Janene's

mandate Mandate most often refers to: * League of Nations mandates, quasi-colonial territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919 * Mandate (politics), the power granted by an electorate Mandate may also r ...

. From September 2005, when he left the Chamber in on

sick leave Sick leave (or paid sick days or sick pay) is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because ...

, Janene succeeded in postponing the lawsuit many times by claiming health issues. He also asked for retirement before the vote on the revocation of his mandate but the request was rejected by the Chamber's direction board. On December 6, 2006, the licensed congressman was found not guilty in a Chamber session with very few voters. In a

secret ballot The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote ...

, 210 congressmen voted to revoke his mandate, 128 voted against the revocation, 5 voted blank ballots and 23 refused to vote. A minimum of 257 votes for revocation was necessary to revoke Janene's mandate, so Janene escaped condemnation.

Land reform issue

On September 15, 2006, one of his farms, known as "3 Jota", located in Guaravera district, Londrina, was invaded by members of

Landless Workers' Movement The Landless Workers' Movement (, MST) is a social movement in Brazil aimed at land reform. Inspired by Marxism, it is the largest such movement in Latin America, with an estimated informal membership of 1.5 million across 23 of Brazil's 26 sta ...

. The invaders said that the property had been bought with money from

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influen ...

and should be included in

agrarian reform Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...

Illness and death

On December 31, 2006, the Brazilian

newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large newspaper circulation, circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and i ...

published the Chamber's decision to allocate Janene a 12.8 thousand real retirement pension due to his health problems. In 2009, new accusations of

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

stunned José Janene even more, worsening his

cardiopathy Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumatic he ...

. Investigation of Janene resumed. Because of the worsening of his health condition, due to a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

, besides the

promulgation Promulgation is the formal proclamation or the declaration that a new statute, statutory or administrative law is enacted after its final Enactment of a bill, approval. In some jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions, this additional step is necessary ...

of "

Ficha Limpa ''Lei da Ficha Limpa'' (''English:'' Clean Record Act) or Complementary Law no. 135 of 2010 is a Brazilian act that amended the ''Conditions of Ineligibility Act'' (''Complementary Law no. 64'' of 1990). It was the fourth bill proposed by direct ...

Law", Janene was forced to quit his political career and began to act behind the scenes. He planned to return to politics but had a second stroke in February 2010. Janene waited three months for a

heart transplantation A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common procedure is to take a functioning heart ...

but it never happened. He died on September 14, 2010, in INCOR Hospital, in São Paulo, due to

septic shock Septic shock is a potentially fatal medical condition that occurs when sepsis, which is organ injury or damage in response to infection, leads to dangerously low blood pressure and abnormalities in cellular metabolism. The Third International C ...

. His body was buried in the Muslim cemetery in Londrina.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Janene, Jose 1955 births 2010 deaths Brazilian farmers 20th-century farmers Brazilian businesspeople Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) from Paraná Progressistas politicians Deaths from sepsis Brazilian Muslims