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 Clockwise from top left: Headquarters ofPetrobras inRio de Janeiro; Emblem of the Federal Police of Brazil;Deltan Dallagnol withRodrigo Janot;Odebrecht logo; Federal Police in an operation; JudgeSergio Moro | |
| Type | Anti-corruption |
| Scope | Brazilian federal government |
| Participants | |
| Executed by |
All judges
|
| Countries participating | Brazil |
| No. of countries participating | At least 11[9] |
| Timeline | |
| Date begin | 2014 |
| Date end | 2021 |
| Results | |
| Suspects | 429 individuals |
| Indictments | 429[10] |
| Convictions | 159[10] |
| Miscellaneous results |
|
Operation Car Wash (Portuguese:Operação Lava Jato,Portuguese pronunciation:[opeɾɐˈsɐ̃wlavɐˈʒatu]) was a landmark anti-corruption probe inBrazil.[14][15] Beginning in March 2014 as the investigation of a smallcar wash inBrasília overmoney laundering, the proceedings uncovered a massive corruption scheme in the Brazilian federal government, particularly instate-owned enterprises. The probe was conducted throughantitrust regulator. Evidence was collected and presented to the court system by a team offederal prosecutors led byDeltan Dallagnol, while the judge in charge of the operation wasSergio Moro. Eventually, other federal prosecutors and judges would go on to oversee related cases under their jurisdictions in various Brazilian states. The operation implicated leading businessmen,federal congressmen,senators,state governors,federal government ministers, and former presidentsCollor,Temer andLula. Companies and individuals accused of involvement have agreed to pay 25 billionreais in fines and restitution of embezzled public funds.[16]
According to investigators, political appointees in state-owned enterprises systematically extorted bribes from private-sector suppliers. Part of these bribes was channeled to political parties (particularly theMDB,PT,PSDB andPP),[17] in order to illegally fund political campaigns (viacaixa dois), as well as for personal gain.[18]: 60 The largest amounts of bribes were detected in oil giantPetrobras; company directors negotiated with contractors to receive illegal kickbacks ranging from 1% to 5% of disbursements.[19] Due to its pervasiveness in Petrobras, the scandal is also known asPetrolão (Portuguese for "big oil").[20] Investigators have also stated that contractors formed acartel, involving the country's largest engineering conglomerates such asOdebrecht,Grupo OAS,Andrade Gutierrez, andCarioca Engenharia, to share government contracts among themselves and collude with corrupt politicians. Allegedly, the cartel also operated in contracts signed directly with government agencies, in projects such as the construction of football stadiums for the2014 World Cup, theAngra 3 nuclear power plant, theBelo Monte dam, and theNorth-South andFiol railways.[21][22] Prosecutors also tracked overseas operations, and cooperated with authorities from 61 countries, among whichSwitzerland, the United States andPeru were the most frequent collaborating parties.[19]
Appeals against rulings by Judge Sergio Moro were processed in theBrazilian justice system, in which theSupreme Federal Court (STF) is thecourt of last resort. Some of the contested issues were the stage at which convicted defendants would begin to serve their sentences, and the extensive use ofplea bargains by prosecutors. In a 2016 decision penned by STF judgeTeori Zavascki, the Court found that prison terms should be served once a sentence was confirmed by the local appeals court. This was welcomed by prosecutors as an incentive against illegal practices.[23]Teori Zavascki, the judge overseeing the prosecution, died in a plane crash off the coast ofParaty, in January 2017, and the investigation lost a key backer in the Supreme Federal Court.[24] In 2019, the STF reverted its ruling, and decided that prison sentences only take effect in Brazil after all possible appeals to higher courts are exhausted.[25]
In January 2019, Sergio Moro announced that he would resign from his position as a federal judge, to join the incoming administration of right-wingPresident Jair Bolsonaro asJustice Minister. This move drew criticism, since Moro had sentenced former President Lula, Bolsonaro's leading rival in the presidential race. Moro fell out of favor with Bolsonaro and left his post in April 2020.[26] He was replaced as the judge in the case byLuiz Bonat.[27]
The probe's reputation was further damaged by revelations arising from a leak of personal conversations between investigators by hackerWalter Delgatti Neto. Delgatti hacked the investigative authorities' online communications overTelegram groups. DubbedVaza Jato, the leak purports to expose undue pre-trial coordination between Judge Moro and prosecutors in the case to produce evidence, direct hearings and discuss possible sentencing.[28] The hacking leak was published in the press byThe Intercept Brasil and journalistGlenn Greenwald, who claimed that Moro passed on "advice, investigative leads, and inside information to the prosecutors" to "prevent Lula'sWorkers' Party from winning" the2018 Brazilian general election.[29] Moro and Dallagnol deny any wrongdoing; they maintain that the contents of the leak have not been confirmed and that, furthermore, no proof of illegal conduct was present in the leaks.[30][31] Nevertheless, the leaks marked a shift in public opinion, having caused the investigation to lose support.[32] The task force was officially disbanded on 1 February 2021.[33][34]
Over time, the methods of prosecutors came under strong criticism from Supreme Federal Court judges. In March 2019, judgeGilmar Mendes referred, in a Court session, to Operation Car Wash investigators as "gangsters and scum", adding that their "methods dishonor institutions".[35] In September 2023, STF judgeDias Toffoli stated that the arrest ofPresident Lula was a "setup", "one of the gravest errors in the country's judicial history", and declared all evidence obtained from a settlement withOdebrecht null and void, adding that Operation Car Wash acted as a "21st-centurypau de arara".[36] Chief prosecutorAugusto Aras believes that Operation Car Wash left a "cursed legacy".[37]
The initial accusation came from businessman Hermes Magnus in 2008, who reported an attempt to launder money through his company, Dunel Indústria e Comércio, a manufacturer of electronic components. Ensuing investigations culminated in the identification of four large criminal rings, headed by:Carlos Habib Chater [pt],Alberto Youssef,Nelma Kodama [pt], andRaul Henrique Srour.
Investigation at first focused on the four black-market currency dealers and improper payments to Alberto Youssef by companies who had won contracts at Petrobras'Abreu and Lima refinery. After they discovered thatdoleiro (black-market dealer) Alberto Youssef had acquired a Range RoverEvoque forPaulo Roberto Costa [pt], a former director of Petrobras, the investigation expanded nationwide. Once he was charged, Costa agreed to provide evidence to the investigation.[38] A newly adopted law introduced 'rewarded collaboration' (Colaboração premiada)[a][b] a type of plea bargaining involving sentence reductions for defendants who cooperate in investigations. Costa's deposition showed which political parties controlled Petrobras.[39]
It also led to a wave of arrests. Fernando Soares, also known as "Fernando Baiano", a businessman and lobbyist, was allegedly the connection between major Brazilian construction firms and the government formed by theWorkers’ Party (PT) andBrazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB).[40][41] After Costa and Soares, many others agreed to collaborate with the prosecution; between 2014 and February 2016, theFederal Public Prosecutor's Office (Portuguese:Ministério Público da União) filed 37 criminal charges against 179 people, mostly politicians and businessmen.[42] In December 2017, nearly three hundred people had been accused of crimes in the scandal.[43] AfterMarcelo Odebrecht, grandson of the company founder, was sentenced to 19 years in prison, he and other Odebrecht executives were, due to the sentence reduction incentives of the 'rewarded collaboration' law, willing to act as witnesses and to give information about the broader corruption scheme. Odebrecht had a secret branch[c] used to make illegal payments in several Latin American countries, fromHugo Chávez in Venezuela toRicardo Martinelli in Panama.[15] Odebrecht was given fines totalling $2.6 billion by authorities of Brazil, Switzerland, and the United States after the company admitted bribing officials in twelve countries with some $788 million.[43]
Costa and Youssef entered into a plea bargain with prosecutors and the scope of the investigation widened to nine major Brazilian construction firms:Camargo Correa,Construtora OAS [pt],UTC Engenharia [pt],Odebrecht,Mendes Júnior [pt],Engevix [pt],Queiroz Galvão [pt],IESA Óleo e Gás [pt], andGalvão Engenharia [pt],as well as politicians involved with Petrobras. Brazilian PresidentDilma Rousseff, who chaired the board of Petrobras from 2003 to 2010, denied knowledge of any wrongdoing.[44] TheBrazilian Supreme Court authorized the investigation of 48 current and former legislators, including former PresidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in March 2016.[20]Eduardo Cunha, president of theChamber of Deputies from 2015 to 2016, was convicted of taking approximately $40 million in bribes and hiding funds in secret bank accounts and sentenced to 15 years in prison.[45][46]
On 19 January 2017, a small plane carrying Supreme Court JusticeTeori Zavascki crashed into the sea near thetourist city ofParaty in the state ofRio de Janeiro, killing the magistrate and four other people. Zavascki had been handling Operation Car Wash corruption trials.[47]
AMiami Herald report noted in September 2017 that when Operation Car Wash began in 2014, fewer than 10,000 electronic monitoring bracelets were in use to enforcehome detention sentences; by September 2017 the number had ballooned to more than 24,000.[48]
Petrobras delayed reporting its annual financial results for 2014, and in April 2015 released "audited financial statements" showing $2.1 billion in bribes and a total of almost $17 billion in write-downs due tograft and overvaluedassets,[49] which the company characterized as a "conservative" estimate. Had the report been delayed by another week, Petrobrasbondholders would have had the right to demand early repayment. Petrobras also suspendeddividend payments for 2015. Due in part to the impact of the scandal, as well as to its high debt burden and the low price of oil, Petrobras was also forced to cutcapital expenditures and announced it would sell $13.7 billion in assets over the following two years.[49]
The conviction ofAldemir Bendine, Petrobras' former CEO, on corruption charges was annulled by the Supreme Federal Court in 2019 due to objections to the trial procedure.[50]
On 8 March 2016,Marcelo Odebrecht, CEO ofOdebrecht and grandson of the company's founder, was sentenced to 19 years in prison after being convicted of paying more than $30 million in bribes to Petrobras executives.[56][57]
In April 2018, former presidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva – after having been sentenced for passive corruption and money laundering in relation to a luxury apartment inGuarujá received from Grupo OAS – entered prison inCuritiba to serve his 12-year sentence. However, illegal communications between Car Wash prosecutors and its lead judge came to light in mid-2019, in which the parties suggested that their prosecutorial motive was to prevent Lula's re-election. There were calls to release the former president (seeLeaked conversations below). As a result, he was released on 8 November 2019 after a Supreme Court ruling.[58]
On 3 July 2018, failed Brazilian billionaireEike Batista was convicted of bribing former Rio de Janeiro governorSérgio Cabral Filho for state government contracts, having paid Cabral US$16.6 million, and was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.[59]
Emílio Odebrecht said in a written report to theAttorney General of Brazil's Office (PGR) that he discussed donations to Worker's Party's (PT) campaigns with former PT president Lula. Financial support, according to the contractor, came even before Lula became president.[60][61]Marcelo Odebrecht said that the "Amigo" account for former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was created in 2010 with a balance of R$40 million. In his statement, he said he gave the money toAntonio Palocci, former Finance Minister and Rousseff's chief of staff, who had been the PT's contact withOdebrecht since the prior administration, whenEmílio Alves Odebrecht [pt] and Pedro Novis had handled payments. He said that in the middle of 2010, at the end of the Lula administration, he knew thatDilma Rousseff was going to take over and that the balance of the account would be "managed by her at her request". Thus, he set apart a sum that would be destined exclusively for the former president. He said that Lula never asked directly for donations and that everything was done through Palocci, but it became clear that the donations were ultimately for the former president.[62][63]
On 4 March 2016, Lula was questioned for three hours as part of the fraud inquiry into the dealings of Petrobras, and his house raided by federal police agents. Lula, who left office in 2011, denied allegations of corruption. Police said they had evidence that Lula had receivedkickbacks. Lula's institute called actions against him "arbitrary, illegal and unjustifiable", since he had been cooperating with the investigations.[64] Lula, convicted of accepting bribes worth 3.7 millionreals[d] (1.2 million dollars), was sentenced on 12 July to nine and a half years in prison.[65] He appealed the sentence to theFederal Regional Court-4, which increased his sentence to twelve years and a month.[66] On 5 April 2018, Moro ordered his imprisonment, and he surrendered two days later.[67]
The plea bargain testimony by Odebrecht Engenharia Industrial's former president Márcio Faria da Silva said that on 15 July 2010, PresidentMichel Temer led a meeting about an agreement to pay approximately US$40 million in bribes to theBrazilian Democratic Movement in exchange for contracts with the international Board of Directors of Petrobras. According to Faria, Temer, who at the time was a candidate for vice-president on Dilma Rousseff's ticket, delegated toEduardo Cunha andHenrique Eduardo Alves, then deputies and present at the meeting, the task of making the payments which represented 5% of the contract's value. The meeting took place in Temer's political office inSão Paulo. He did not discuss any details about the financial agreement, limiting himself to trivial conversations about politics.[68][69]
Marcelo Odebrecht said in his plea bargain testimony that theSocial Democratic (PSDB) party, led by SenatorAécio Neves (PSDB-MG), received at least 50 million reals in exchange for favoring the business contractor in energy deals. He said that improper payments were made due to business deals with two state companies:Furnas andCemig. The first federal investigation was under the leadership ofDimas Toledo [pt], an ally of Neves, in the early years of the Lula administration (2003–2005). The second state-run investigation was influenced by Aécio during the period when the PSDB was in power inMinas Gerais (2003–2014).[70][71]
Odebrecht also discussed family involvement. In eleven cases under the jurisdiction of theSupreme Federal Court (STF), investigations implicate father and son, husband and wife, or siblings. The president of the Chamber,Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ), has the most family members implicated. Maia was charged in the same investigation as his father, councilor and former mayorCesar Maia. According to the Odebrecht testimony, Rodrigo obtained cash resources both for his father's campaign and also for himself. The Brazilian Democratic Movement leader of the Senate,Renan Calheiros (AL), was charged along with his son, the governor of AlagoasRenan Filho (PMDB), in two inquiries. They allegedly participated in an agreement to divert resources from work on the Canal do Sertão and also received resources in the form of aslush fund they refer to as acaixa 2. In the case of the father, two other inquiries are ongoing.[needs update]
The governor ofRio Grande do Norte,Robinson Faria (PSD), was charged along with his son, federal deputyFábio Faria (PSD-RN). The two allegedly received contributions through a slush fund in return for defending Odebrecht Ambiental's interests in the area of basic sanitation in the state. The president of the PMDB, SenatorRomero Jucá (RR), and his son Rodrigo Jucá both figured in one of the inquiries. The father helped Odebrecht negotiate aprovisional measure and obtained an electoral donation of 150,000 reals for his son. Romero Jucá was also charged in four other inquiries. A father asking for a contribution for a son was also why former ministerJosé Dirceu was investigated along withZeca Dirceu, federal deputy. The father was able to raise the money for Zeca in exchange for the acting for Odebrecht's interests in the government.[citation needed]
In theChamber of Deputies, the sonsAntônio Britto (PSD-BA) andDaniel Vilela (PMDB-GO) were also investigated along with their parents,Edvaldo Brito [pt] (PTB-BA) andMaguito Vilela (PMDB-GO). SenatorKátia Abreu (PMDB-TO) was accompanied by her husband Moisés Pinto Gomes, who brokered cash payments for her in 2014. SenatorVanessa Grazziotin (PCdoB-AM) is accompanied by her husband,Eron Bezerra [pt], said to have asked for slush fund cash donations for her. Federal DeputyDécio Nery de Lima (PT-SC) also requested slush funds for theBlumenau municipal campaign in 2012 of his wife, state deputy Ana Paula Lima (PT-SC). The Viana brothers ofAcre, GovernorTião Viana (PT) and SenatorJorge Viana (PT), were also charged together. Jorge asked for and Odebrecht paid R$1.5 million in cash two for Tião's campaign in 2010.[72][63]
The names of the senators cited in the report were:
The names of the federal deputies cited in the Odebrecht statement were:
The names in the Odebrecht statement include other politicians and former public officials:
Marcelo Odebrecht detailed the payment of 100 million reals for the 2014 presidential campaign of Rousseff, requested by then-ministerGuido Mantega.[78] The payment was allegedly tied to the approval of Provisional Measure 613, which assistedBraskem, an arm of Odebrecht, and dealt with the Special Chemical Industry Regime (Reiq), and tax incentives to stimulateethanol production.[79] The former executive said that this was not a direct exchange of favors as was, he says, the negotiation of the 50 million reals passed on to the government for the creation of Crisis Refis to solve the crisis caused by zeroImposto sobre Produtos Industrializados [pt] ("Industrialized Products Tax"; IPI),[80] but that the then-minister knew that he was talking to someone who had given money toJoão Santana [pt]. The former executive said he often met Mantega and they both brought their lawsuits to meetings. According to him, the former minister had already asked the executive to "resolve issues" pending with publicist João Santana and the then-treasurer of the PT,João Vaccari [pt]. The advertiser always feared political campaigns because of the risk of getting into debt at the end. That's why he made advance payment on the account, to keep it quiet.[81]
Former Odebrecht Institutional Relations DirectorAlexandrino Alencar [pt] stated that former ministerEdinho Silva, when he became treasurer of Dilma Rousseff's campaign in 2014, asked for two donations from five parties to support the Force of the People, at 7 million reals each.[82] The PCdoB, PDT, PRB, PROS, and PP received the illegal donations, according to the former director of Odebrecht. Together, these parties gave three minutes and twenty seconds of television time to the presidential ticket. In return, said the former director, the contractor hoped to obtainquid pro quos from the elected government. The informant detailed meetings with the politicians in his office and cash deliveries, always made in kind by messengers to hotel rooms or flats. Marcelo Odebrecht said he met with Silva a few times to handle the money for the parties that would join the coalition in 2014. The former Dilma minister allegedly instructed Alencar to directly seek party leaders to pass on the values. He clarified that the interest of the PT was the increase of the time of electoral time on the television, being in a total of eleven minutes and twenty-four seconds, being a third of that time coming from the parties purchased.[83]
During the many years it has been going on, the Car Wash scandal has expanded from its original roots in money laundering, to encompass wider corruption in Brazil, and outside its borders in at least ten other countries, even beyond South America.[9]
On 5 November 2017, theParadise Papers, a set of confidentialelectronic documents relating tooffshore investment, revealed that Odebrecht used at least oneoffshore company as a vehicle for paying the bribes uncovered through the Operation Car Wash investigation. Marcelo Odebrecht, his father Emílio Odebrecht and his brother Maurício Odebrecht are all mentioned in the Paradise Papers.[84]
During the governments ofCristina Fernández de Kirchner andNéstor Kirchner, Odebrecht was awarded overvalued contracts worth at least US$9.6 billion.[85]
In Mexico, the former director of the state-owned oil companyPemex, a close ally of PresidentEnrique Peña Nieto, is suspected of receiving US$10 million in bribes from Odebrecht.[86]
Ramón Fonseca Mora, president ofPanama'sPanameñista Party, was dismissed in March 2016 due to his involvement in the scandal.[87] ThePanama Papers resulted from a hack of his law firm's computer systems.
Fonseca and his business partnerJürgen Mossack were arrested and jailed in February 2017.[88] They were released in April 2017 after a judge ruled they had cooperated with the investigation and ordered them each to pay $500,000 in bail.[89][90]
During thePeruvian presidential election in February 2016, a report by theBrazilian Federal Police implicated PresidentOllanta Humala in bribery by Odebrecht for public works contracts. President Humala denied the charge and has avoided questions from the media on this matter.[91][92] In July 2017, Humala and his wife were arrested and held in pre-trial detention following investigations into his involvement in the Odebrecht scandal.[93][94] Investigations revealed that Brazilian presidentLula da Silva pressured Odebrecht to pay millions of dollars toward Humala's presidential campaign.[95]
In December 2017 Peru's PresidentPedro Pablo Kuczynski appeared beforeCongress to defend himself againstimpeachment over allegations of covering up illegal payments of $782,000 from Odebrecht to Kuczynski's company Westfield Group Capital Ltd.Keiko Fujimori, who had lost the 2016 presidential elections to Kuczynski by a margin of fewer than 50,000 votes, was championing impeachment; her party had already forced out five government ministers. Fujimori herself was later implicated in the Odebrecht scandal over alleged campaign contributions[96] and on 31 October 2018, a judge sent her to 36 months of pretrial detention.[97] Kuczynskiresigned from the Presidency on 21 March 2018[98] and was sent to pretrial detention on 10 April 2019.[99]
On 17 April 2019,Alan García, a former President of Peru who was also implicated in the scandal, died by suicide after shooting himself in the head while police attempted to arrest him.[100]
Former presidentAlejandro Toledo (2001–2006) was also implicated in the bribery scandal, and was arrested inRedwood City, California in July 2019 for allegedly taking bribes in connection with a highway construction contract.[101]
In late 2017, Euzenando Prazeres de Azevedo, president of Constructora Odebrecht in Venezuela, told investigators that Odebrecht had made $35 million in campaign contributions toNicolas Maduro's2013 presidential campaign in return for Odebrecht projects receiving priority in Venezuela,[102] that Americo Mata, Maduro's campaign manager, initially asked for $50 million for Maduro, settled in the end for $35 million.[102][103] In May 2018,Transparency International showed that only 9 of 33 projects started by Odebrecht in Venezuela between 1999 and 2013 were completed.[104]
One of Singapore's prominent government-linked companies,Keppel Corporation, is also implicated in the Petrobras' corruption scandals.[105] Information of involvement is confirmed in the plea bargain Keppel Corporation reached with US DOJ. Keppel and US DOJ however failed to release the names of all people involved in this corruption scandal. Details are available on the US DOJ site here.[106]
| Vaza Jato |
|---|
 |
| Scandal |
On 9 June 2019,Glenn Greenwald and other journalists frominvestigative journalism magazineThe Intercept Brasil started publishing several leaked chat messages exchanged via theTelegram app between members of the Brazilianjudiciary system. Some, including then Car Wash judge and formerMinister of JusticeSergio Moro and lead prosecutorDeltan Dallagnol are accused of violating legal procedure during the investigation, trial and arrest of former presidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva allegedly for the sake of preventing him from running for a third term in the2018 Brazilian general election, among other crimes. Other news agencies, such asFolha de São Paulo andVeja, confirmed the authenticity of the messages and worked in partnership withThe Intercept Brasil to sort the rest of the material in their possession before releasing it.[107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114]
On 23 July,Brazilian Federal Police made public that they had arrested and were investigating a hacker fromAraraquara, Walter Delgatti Neto, for breaking into the authorities' Telegram accounts. Neto confessed to the hack and to having given thechat logs to Greenwald. Police said the attack had been perpetrated by abusing Telegram's phone number verification and exploiting vulnerabilities invoicemail technology in use in Brazil using aspoofed phone number.The Intercept neither confirmed nor denied that Neto was their source and cited provisions forfreedom of the press in the 1988Brazilian Constitution.[115]
Greenwald has faced death threats and homophobic harassment from supporters of PresidentJair Bolsonaro due to his reporting on the Telegram messages.[116] ANew York Times profile of Greenwald and his husbandDavid Miranda, a left-wing congressman, said the couple have become targets of homophobia from Bolsonaro supporters as a result of the reporting.[117]The Washington Post reported that Greenwald had been targeted with tax investigations by the Bolsonaro government as retaliation for the reporting,[118] while AP called Greenwald's reporting the first test case for a free press in the Bolsonaro era.[119]
The Guardian, reporting on retaliation against Greenwald from the Bolsonaro government and its supporters, said the articles published by Greenwald andThe Intercept "have had an explosive impact on Brazilian politics and dominated headlines for weeks," adding that the exposés "appeared to show prosecutors in the sweeping Operation Car Wash corruption inquiry colluding with Sergio Moro, the judge who became a hero in Brazil for jailing powerful businessmen, middlemen and politicians."[120]
After Bolsonaro explicitly threatened to imprison Greenwald for this reporting,[121] Supreme Court justiceGilmar Mendes ruled that any investigation of Greenwald in connection with the reporting would be illegal under the Brazilian constitution, callingfreedom of the press a "pillar of democracy".[122]
Greenwald reported that the leaked file is bigger than the one in theSnowden case.[109][123]Fernando Haddad considered the leaks to have the potential to become the "greatest institutional scandal in the history of the Brazilian republic".[124][109]
In response to the leaks, several top jurisprudence authorities and experts in Europe and the Americas, such asSusan Rose-Ackerman (praised by Car Wash prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol as the world's top corruption expert),Bruce Ackerman, and Luigi Ferrajoli, voiced their shock at the conduct of the Brazilian authorities and described former President Lula as a political prisoner, calling for his release.[125][126]
In March 2020,the Intercept reported that Brazilian prosecutors had secretly collaborated with theUS Department of Justice andFederal Bureau of Investigation in a manner "that may have violated international legal treaties and Brazilian law". The Brazilian Ministry of Justice had not been informed; making this collaboration illegal. They also found that money paid by Brazilian companies in the US was funnelled back into Brazil; chief prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol said he would use part of this sum to set up an "independent fund to fight corruption".[127][128] This attempt was then deemed unconstitutional by Brazil's Supreme Court.[129] It was reported that Mr. Dallagnol had called Lula da Silva's arrest "a gift from the CIA".[130][131] Leslie Backschies, the head of the US FBI's international corruption unit, alluded to this incident when discussing the sensitivity of anti-corruption investigations in a 2019 interview with AP news, saying "We saw presidents toppled in Brazil".[132]
As of September 2020, there were fears that political forces were about to bring an end to Operation Car Wash, according to prosecutors in Brazil. Chief prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol said, "Today there is a very strong alignment of political forces against the Operation Car Wash investigation. Much more than [just] an operation, the Brazilian effort against corruption itself is at risk." One of the reasons Jair Bolsonaro was elected president in 2018, was because of his promises to attack corruption, but since he and his family members became embroiled, he has cooled on it. Bolsonaro's attorney generalAugusto Aras complained that the investigations went too far, and were biased politically, and campaigned against it, gaining support from Bolsonaro family members such as their son Flavio who was caught up in it. Dallagnol claimed that the slowdown and efforts to stop the investigations were because the investigations were getting close to revealing corruption at the highest levels. Other branches of government also oppose the investigations, including Congress and the Supreme Court, which have been targets, as well as political parties. Analysts see a concerted effort to back down from aggressive anti-corruption efforts in Brazil.[133]
There are two dramatizations of Operation Car Wash. One is the 2017 filmPolícia Federal: A Lei É para Todos (Federal Police: The Law Is for Everyone), directed by Marcelo Antunez, and the other is the Netflix seriesThe Mechanism (2018–2019).
Notes
Citations
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Jurist Susan Rose-Ackerman, Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale University, expressed support for the release of former President Lula, who has been imprisoned since April 2018 for his role in Operation Car Wash. The American, who is considered one of the world's leading anti-corruption experts, has signed a letter along with 16 other jurists calling for the Supreme Court to release the former president and set aside the verdict.
One oddity: Susan Rose-Ackerman was previously praised by prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol, the coordinator of Car Wash investigations. The head of the task force in Curitiba had already recommended that the jurist be interviewed, introducing the professor in social networks as 'the world's biggest expert in political corruption'.
Susan and the other lawyers, all from international universities, say the revelations in the messages exchanged between Dallagnol and Sérgio Moro, who was responsible for the charges against Lula, 'were appalling to all legal professionals.'
The former director of the so-called bribery department said that any executive responsible for an Odebrecht project could request the funds to get the project going.O ex-diretor do chamado setor de propinas disse que cada executivo responsável por obras da Odebrecht podia solicitar o recurso para fazer as obras andarem.
E-mails seized by Operation Car Wash at the Odebrecht Group headquarters in June 2015 reinforced the evidentiary exhibits showing the participation of the outgoing president of Marcelo Bahia Odebrecht with the Structured Operations Division - a department that took care of the contractor's kickbacks and slush fund payments, in the corruption scheme discovered at Petrobras.E-mails apreendidos pela Operação Lava Jato na sede do Grupo Odebrecht, em junho de 2015, reforçaram o rol de provas da participação do presidente afastado do Marcelo Bahia Odebrecht com o Setor de Operações Estruturadas - departamento que cuidava dos pagamentos de propina e caixa 2 da empreiteira, no esquema de corrupção descoberto na Petrobrás.
Only the employees of the Structured Operations Division, also called the Bribery Division by the media, ...Apenas os funcionários do Setor de Operações Estruturais, também chamado de Setor de Propinas, pela mídia, ...
The Department of Structured Operations – official name of the bribery center of the company, according to Operation Car Wash.[O] Departamento de Operações Estruturadas --nome oficial da central de propinas da empreiteira, segundo a Lava Jato...
The company's bribery department, known by the rather prosaic name of Division of Structured Operations, managed its own shadow budget.
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