Prosecutor-General says Petrobras probes have reached “crucial moment”
Porsecutor General Rodrigo Janot -
In a letter addressed to the members of the Federal Public Prosecution Office, Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot warned his colleagues that Operation Car Wash reached a “crucial moment” after the Federal Supreme Court received the requests to launch probes into the conduct of higher government officials, who may only be brought to trial under the Supreme Court—which is the case, for instance, of the president, the vice-president, public prosecutors, ministers, and congress members.
In the document, made public on Thursday (Mar 5), Janot urges the government agency to stay united in the face of “attacks seeking to discredit Brazil's Public Prosecution Office, impugn its work or smear its members.”
In his letter, Janot mentions that he has “minutely” examined the particular details presented by the Brasília-based work group and by the task force headquartered in Curitiba. He adds that he adopted “technical and objective” criteria while preparing the document sent to the Supreme Court, with 28 investigation requests targeting 54 people and seven case dismissals.
“I'm not expecting unanimity. I won't have it. I wish and I trust that, in this unique moment in our country, particularly at the Public Prosecution Office, each one of my colleagues will be confident that I have fulfilled my duty in connection with the facts under investigation, regardless of the identity of those involved, their political parties, or the positions they occupy or have occupied,” Janot adds.
The prosecutor-general further points out that, in case Minister Teori Zavascki, rapporteur of Operation Car Wash with the Supreme Court, grants his request to lift the secrecy provision of the probes, all the work done by the Federal Police and the Public Prosecution Office will be “thoroughly scrutinized” and “submitted to the strictest coherence tests” by society and by what he calls “a dysfunctional part of the political system.”
“I do not have the gift of foreseeing the future, but I have enough experience to understand how the dysfunctional part of the political system behaves when facing the determined work of the Public Prosecution Office in the fight against corruption. This is what will occur, because submitting any public authority to the judgment of Brazilian citizens is a central value of democracy and of the republican principle,” Janot says.
Minister Teori Zavascki and his advisers have been analyzing since Wednesday (4) the requests for launching inquiries and case dismissals proposed by the Prosecutor-General's Office. Zavascki may announce up to the end of the week whether he will grant Janot's request to remove the secrecy of the probes.
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: Prosecutor-General says Petrobras probes have reached “crucial moment”
