Operation Lava Jato

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Montagem Lava Jato.jpg

Operation Lava Jato (in German about 'Operation Car Wash' or 'High Pressure Washer'), also Caso Lava Jato , 'the car washing affair' , is a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal (also stylized as Petrolão ) in Brazil . Since March 17, 2014, public prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol , responsible at the federal court in Curitiba in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná , has been investigating the proceedings to clear up the Petrobras scandal.

The focus: Petrobras

All processes surrounding the political scandal are centered around the semi-state oil company Petrobras as well as various construction companies (e.g. the Queiroz Galvão Group ), politicians and several political parties, including the Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB), Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT ), the Partido Progressista (PP) and the Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro (PMDB). Dallagnol and his people are convinced that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was the "godfather" of a political mafia whose members stole billions from the semi-state oil company Petrobras and other state-owned companies from 2003 onwards in order to use the stolen money to gain power from the PT cement and enrich yourself personally.

prehistory

The branching process of the century against dozens of politicians and managers owes its strange name to a gas station with a car wash in the capital Brasília , which also had an exchange office and a money transfer service . The money dealer Alberto Youssef, who worked there, made a comprehensive confession in his proceedings for aiding and abetting money laundering in exchange for a reduced sentence. The Petrobras manager initially charged by the money dealer did the same, whereupon further investigations and criminal proceedings were set in motion.

background

The Petrolão is a huge corruption system, in which contracts for the Brazilian oil company Petrobras were carried out by private construction companies at inflated prices . The suspected entrepreneurs shared the additional income gained from this with Petrobras employees and politicians, and part of it flowed into party coffers. Petrobras (formerly Petrobrás ) is the largest company in Brazil with annual sales of around 140 billion US dollars (129 billion euros) and is now talking of a loss of at least two billion dollars as a result of these machinations. In the largest legal case in Brazilian history, the judiciary, headed by federal judge Sérgio Fernando Moro, is now investigating more than 494 politicians and business people (as of August 2015).

chronology

2014-2016

The Brazilian federal police have been investigating 'Operation high-pressure cleaner' in the Operação Lava Jato since March 2014 . A total of 96 of the leading managers and owners of Brazilian construction companies are in custody. 30 of them have been convicted so far and a further 103 people have been charged (as of August 2015). The Supremo Tribunal Federal , the Supreme Court, has opened investigations against the suspects. There are also 22 MPs and twelve senators . You are said to have been involved in the corruption operations at Petrobras. From 2004 to 2012 illegal funds from the group are said to have been systematically diverted to politicians as bribes . Federal judge Teori Zavascki justified the decision to publish the names of the suspected politicians that it was obvious that a criminal organization was being formed.

Within 16 investigation phases, irregularities were uncovered at the Brazilian Caixa Econômica Federal , a bank and a state-owned financial service provider in South America, the Ministry of Health, Eletronuclear, a subsidiary of Eletrobrás in the nuclear energy sector and, above all, the semi-state oil company Petrobrás. In the summer of 2016, the judiciary is already busy with the 33rd phase.

The deposed former President of the Chamber of Deputies Eduardo Cunha of the Center Party PMDB is believed to have stolen a good 35 million euros in Curitiba alone and managed to get a good portion of it into accounts in Switzerland. In October 2016, Cunha was arrested.

2017

On January 19, 2017, the federal judge of the Supreme Court, Teori Zavascki, who was the anti-corruption judge dealing with the Lava-Jato affair, was killed in a plane crash.

On May 17, 2017, the Brazilian newspaper O Globo accused President Michel Temer of ordering the silence of Eduardo Cunha - a former President of the Chamber of Deputies - to be bought.

On May 10, 2017, the former President Lula will be heard by the judge Sergio Moro .

On June 7, 2017, Sergio Cabral, former governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro , was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption.

On June 19, 2017, it was announced that member of the Supreme Court and Electoral Commission, Gilmar Mendes, was a shareholder in a company affected by the bribery.

Former President Temer will be charged on June 26, 2017. He calls this 'fiction' and 'assault on one's dignity'.

On July 12, 2017, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sentenced to nine years in prison for corruption.

2018

In March 2018, the investigations into the Lava Jato operation reached the tender and the Belo Monte hydropower plant. PT and PMDB politicians received bribes following the investigation. The aim of the investigation is the former minister Antônio Delfim Netto

On April 5, 2018, an arrest warrant was issued for Lula. After evading arrest, he turned himself in in Curitiba on April 7th.

On April 30, 2018, Lula and Gleisi Hoffmann are again accused of bribery by Odebrecht.

2019

Former President Michel Temer was arrested on March 21, 2019 .

In June 2019, the investigative magazine The Intercept reported that the investigators entrusted with the anti-corruption investigations into Lava Jato and the federal judge Sérgio Moro had conspired to prevent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from participating in the 2018 presidential election in Brazil .

Status of the investigation (until September 2016)

  • Number of trials: 1,397
  • In prison: 174 people
  • Number of searches and seizures: 654
  • Convictions: 106 people
  • Companies involved: 16

Social consequences

In 2014 the Movimento Brasil Livre was formed , which, as a social movement against corruption and for a liberal economy, carried out the largest protests in recent Brazilian history in the following year.

List of politicians accused by the Supreme Court

As of March 2015:

Surname Office Political party federal
state
Renan Calheiros senator PMDB AL
Eduardo Cunha Ex-Federal MP,
Ex-President of the Chamber of Deputies 		PMDB RJ
Fernando Collor de Mello senator PTB AL
Lindberg Farias senator PT RJ
Cândido Vaccarezza Ex-Federal MP PT SP
Gleisi Hoffmann Senator PT PR
Benedito de Lira senator PP AL
Arthur Lira Federal MP PP AL
José mentor Federal MP PT SP
Edison Lobão senator PMDB MA
Humberto Costa senator PT PE
José Otávio Germano Federal MP PP RS
João Alberto Pizzolati Ex-Federal MP PP SC
Roseana Sarney Ex-Senator PMDB MA
Vander Loubet Federal MP PT MS
Antonio Anastasia senator PSDB MG
Aníbal Gomes Federal MP PMDB CE
Simão sessim Federal MP PP RJ
Nelson Meurer Federal MP PP PR
Roberto Teixeira Ex-Federal MP PP PE
Ciro Nogueira senator PP PI
Gladson Cameli senator PP AC
Aguinaldo Ribeiro Federal MP PP PB
Eduardo da Fonte Federal MP PP PE
Luiz Fernando Faria Federal MP PP MG
Dilceu Sperafico Federal MP PP PR
Jerônimo Goergen Federal MP PP RS
João Sandes Júnior Federal MP PP GO
Afonso Hamm Federal MP PP RS
José Olímpio Silveira Moraes Federal MP PP SP
Lázaro Botelho Federal MP PP TO
Luis Carlos Heinze Federal MP PP RS
Renato Molling Federal MP PP RS
Roberto Balestra Federal MP PP GO
Lázaro Britto Federal MP PP BA
Waldir Maranhão Federal MP PP MA
Mário Negromonte Ex-Federal MP PP BA
Pedro Corrêa Ex-Federal MP PP PE
Aline Corrêa Ex-Federal MP PP SP
André Vargas Ex-Federal MP PT PR
Carlo Magno Ex-Federal MP PP RO
João Leão Ex-Federal MP
and Lieutenant Governor 		PP BA
Luiz Argolo Ex-Federal MP SD BA
José Linhares Ex-Federal MP PP CE
Pedro Henry Ex-Federal MP PP MT
Vilson Covatti Ex-Federal MP PP RS
Romero Jucá senator PMDB RR
Valdir Raupp senator PMDB RO
Fernando Pimentel governor PT MG
Luiz Fernando Pezão governor PMDB RJ

List of preliminary investigations against politicians, April 2017

On April 11, 2017, the Supreme Court Minister Edson Fachin and the Chief Public Prosecutor of Brazil Rodrigo Janot published a new list of 108 names of politicians for whom investigations were initiated, which also means lifting of secrecy (immunity). Various "irregularities" such as passive and active corruption, money laundering, forgery, as well as unfair pricing and fraud are investigated.

Nine ministers in Temer's cabinet , three of them from the PMDB, two from the PSDB, one each from the PPS, the PRB, the PP and the PSD
29 senators, nine of them from the PMDB, seven from the PSDB, four from the PT, two each from the PSB, DM and PP, one each from the PCdoB, PTC and PSD
42 federal deputies
Minister of the Federal Audit Office (TCU)
Acting governors
24 other people

Legal developments in 2019

The judgment against Aldemir Bendine has been overturned by the Supremo Tribunal Federal .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Petrobras - Abused and run down . nzz.ch, from November 21, 2014
  2. ↑ Godfather of the political mafia? . faz.net. 15 September 2016
  3. ↑ Godfather of the political mafia? . faz.net. 15 September 2016
  4. ^ Federal judge Sérgio Fernando Moro in the public eye . latina-press.com, July 27, 2015
  5. ↑ Brazil takes on top managers . handelsblatt.com, July 27, 2015
  6. ^ Corruption scandal in Brazil: balance after 500 days of "Lava Jato" . latina-press.com, July 27, 2015
  7. ↑ Eduardo Cunha arrested . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of October 21, 2016, p. 4.
  8. ↑ Brazil's “corruption hunter” dies in a plane crash. Spiegel online , January 20, 2017, accessed March 3, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Alexander Busch: What is Zavascki's death about? Handelsblatt , January 20, 2017, accessed on March 3, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Claire Gatinois: Au Brésil, le président Temer éclaboussé par de nouvelles révélations. May 18, 2017, accessed March 22, 2019 (French).
  11. ^ Scandale Petrobras: face-à-face très attendu entre Lula et le juge Sergio Moro. May 10, 2017, accessed on March 22, 2019 (French).
  12. ^ Brésil: un ex-gouverneur de Rio condamné à 14 ans de prison. AFP, June 13, 2017, accessed March 22, 2019 (French).
  13. ^ Au Brésil, la justice rattrapée par le scandale politique. June 19, 2017, accessed March 23, 2019 (French).
  14. ^ Brésil: le président Michel Temer formellement accusé de corruption. Figaro, June 27, 2017, accessed March 22, 2019 (French).
  15. ↑ Temer: les accusations de corruption sont "une fiction". Figaro, June 27, 2017, accessed March 22, 2019 (French).
  16. ^ Brésil: l'ancien président Lula condamné à neuf ans et demi de prison pour corruption. Figaro, July 12, 2017, accessed March 22, 2019 (French).
  17. ↑ Ex-ministro Delfim Netto é alvo de busca e apreensão na 49ª fase da Lava Jato. Globo, March 9, 2018, accessed March 22, 2019 (Portuguese).
  18. ↑ Jacqueline Saraiva: Delfim Netto, o 'Professor', recebeu propina de R $ 15 milhões, diz MPF. Diários associados, March 9, 2018, accessed March 22, 2019 (Portuguese).
  19. ↑ Dimitrius Dantas: Sérgio Moro bloqueia R $ 4.4 milhões nas contas de Delfim Netto. Globo, March 9, 2018, accessed March 22, 2019 (Portuguese).
  20. ↑ Ex-President Temer arrested. Retrieved March 21, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Brésil: the magistrats auraient conspire pour le retour de empêcher Lula. AFP / Liberation, June 10, 2019, accessed June 10, 2019 (French).
  22. ↑ Brésil: Les enquêteurs anticorruption auraient conspiré pour empêcher le retour au pouvoir de Lula. 20 Minutes, June 10, 2019, accessed June 10, 2019 (French).
  23. ↑ Harald Neuber: Brazil: Lula da Silva was apparently imprisoned after judicial manipulation. In: heise.de. Telepolis , June 11, 2019, accessed June 13, 2019 .
  24. ↑ HIDDEN PLOT Exclusive: Brazil's Top Prosecutors Who Indicted Lula Schemed in Secret Messages to Prevent His Party From Winning 2018 Election. The Intercep, June 9, 2019, accessed June 16, 2019 .
  25. ↑ 'ATÉ AGORA TENHO RECEIO' Exclusivo: Deltan Dallagnol duvidava das provas contra Lula e de propina da Petrobras horas antes da denúncia do triplex. The Intercep, June 9, 2019, accessed June 16, 2019 (Portuguese).
  26. ↑ BREACH OF ETHICS Exclusive: Leaked Chats Between Brazilian Judge and Prosecutor Who Imprisoned Lula Reveal Prohibited Collaboration and Doubts Over Evidence. The Intercep, June 9, 2019, accessed June 16, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Luciana Lima, Mel Bleil Gallo, Vasconcelo Quadros, David Shalom: Lava Jato: confira a lista de políticos envolvidos em escândalo. iG, March 6, 2015, accessed on September 19, 2015 .
  28. ↑ Ministro do STF autoriza investigação de 47 políticos na Lava Jato. G1, March 6, 2015, accessed September 19, 2015 .
  29. ↑ STF autoriza inquéritos para investigar 9 ministros, 29 senadores, 42 deputados e 3 governadores. In: O Estado of April 12, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2017 (Portuguese).
  30. ^ Wagner Mendes: Oito ministros de Temer integram lista de Fachin. In: O Povo, April 11, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2017 (Portuguese).
  31. ^ Supremo anula pela primeira vez condenação imposta por Moro na Lava Jato. Folha de S.Paulo , August 27, 2019, accessed August 29, 2019 (Portuguese).
  32. ^ Judgment in the "Lava Jato" case declared null and void. n-tv, accessed August 29, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Operation Lava Jato  - collection of images, videos and audio files