Brazil: Odebrecht's bargain testimonies handed over to Prosecutor-General
Brazil's Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot
Brazil's Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot will begin planning the next steps of the investigation on Odebrecht construction firm at the Supreme Court (STF) since the company's executives' plea bargain statements were admitted as evidence into the “Car Wash” corruption probe.
On Monday (Jan. 30), Janot met at the Supreme Court with Chief Justice Cármen Lúcia, who handed over the testimonies of 77 Odebrecht executives to him with her authorization to be used in the investigations.
Upon receiving these records, Janot can begin filing requests to investigate politicians and business executives whose names have been brought up in the testimonies. But that should only happen after a new justice is assigned with the role of overseeing the case at the Supreme Court to replace Justice Teori Zavascki following his death.
The new reporting justice is expected to be announced by the Supreme Court on Wednesday (Feb. 1) as the Court's annual term begins. Cármen Lúcia is still working behind the scenes to find an agreed choice to replace Zavascki.
It is informally speculated among Supreme Court justices that the name of the new reporting judge could be drawn from the second panel of Supreme Court justices (of which Zavascki was part), which has heard appeals in the case before. Justices Gilmar Mendes, Dias Tóffoli, Ricardo Lewandowski, and Celso de Mello are members of the second panel.
It is also possible that a member of the first panel could move to the second—in that scenario, Justice Edson Fachin, who as well as Zavascki became notorious for his reserved character, is the favorite choice.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Brazil: Odebrecht's bargain testimonies handed over to Prosecutor-General
