Odebrecht plea bargain statements prompts 83 new investigation requests

Brazil's Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot petitioned the Supreme Court Tuesday (March 14) to launch 83 investigations on people implicated by the plea bargain statements of former officers of Brazil's builder Odebrecht. The requests filed with the Supreme Court were confidential, and the names of those implicated were not officially disclosed.

It will be up to Justice Edson Fachin, the judge in charge of the Car Wash corruption investigation in Brazil's top court, to authorize or turn down investigations and measures requested by Janot. Fachin will also have to decide whether or not the contents of the allegations should remain confidential.

Odebrecht's court agreements were officially admitted as evidence in the Car Wash case in January by Chief Justice Cármen Lúcia, after Justice Teori Zavascki, who was in charge of the case at the Supreme Court level, was killed in an air crash. The Prosecutor-General's Office heard 950 testimonies from 77 whistleblowers linked to the building company.

Translated by Mayra Borges