Brazil: Prosecutor asks probe of Rousseff, Lula, Cardozo
Rodrigo Janot 
Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot has asked the Supreme Court (STF) to authorize investigations on President Dilma Rousseff, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Attorney-General José Eduardo Cardozo, in connection with a confidential proceeding.
His request was prompted by plea bargaining statements by Senator Delcídio do Amaral that Rousseff and Lula had vested interests in appointing Marcelo Navarro as a Justice in the Superior Court (STJ) to hobble Operation Car Wash investigations on the Petrobras corruption scandal and its tentacles and putting jailed contractors at liberty. José Eduardo Cardozo was the incumbent Minister of Justice then.
It now lies with Justice Teori Zavascki, the judge rapporteur on “Car Wash” proceedings in the Supreme Court, to decide whether or not to initiate the requested investigation. It is not known when the decision will be announced.
José Eduardo Cardozo issued a note saying that Senator Delcídio do Amaral's statements are “frivolous lies.” For him, “the investigation will only serve to prove that—once more—the senator has not been telling the truth.” Cardozo also deplored that “once again, a confidential investigation has been leaked even before any investigations took place in connection with the false allegations made by the senator in his plea bargaining testimony.”
In a note released around the time Senator Amaral made his statements, Instituto Lula said that former president Lula never engaged in any wrongdoing whether directly or indirectly, and there have been “illegal leaks, unproven allegations, and groundless accusations.”
*With additional reporting by Ivan Richard.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Brazil: Prosecutor asks probe of Rousseff, Lula, Cardozo
