Plea bargain testimony of senator charged with interfering in probes accepted

Justice Teori Zavascki of the Federal Supreme Court accepted the testimony given by Senator Delcídio do Amaral (of the Workers' Party—PT) under a plea bargain deal agreed with the Attorney General's Office, in a bid to collaborate with the probes under Operation Car Wash. According to a Supreme Court statement, the justice further ruled the removal of the secrecy on the case, even though the extent of such removal has not been determined.

Delcídio do Amaral was arrested on November 25 last year, after Bernardo Cerveró, son of former Petrobras Director Nestor Cerveró, handed over to prosecutors an audio recording of a meeting in which Amaral proposes the monthly payment of some $14 thousand to family members and an escape plan which entailed his departure from the country. Cerveró was arrested at the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba, charged with participating in a public money embezzlement scheme at Petrobras. It was also discovered that the senator claimed he could use the aide of other Supreme Court justices to interfere in investigations and obtain a writ of habeas corpus for Nestor Cerveró.

Amaral was released on February 18 under the condition he was only allowed to leave his home to work at the Senate. Since then, he has been on a medical leave, expected to end on March 23.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira