Supreme Court approves investigation of Congress members

Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki, the rapporteur in the case known as Operation Car Wash targeted mainly at the Petrobras kickback scandal, has granted 28 probe requests sent by Attorney-General Rodrigo Janot. They include those among the suspects that can only be judge under special jurisdiction terms by the Supreme Federal Court – i.e. current Congress members – as well as other potential suspects.

On Friday (Mar. 6), Zavascki revoked the confidentiality of the proceedings, authorizing disclosure of all case records and of a list of people implicated in the scandal, including 12 senators, 22 deputies, and former governors and congress members. Among them are the incumbent Presidents of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, and of the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Cunha., both of whom are in the main party of the governing coalition, the PMDB. Progressive Party (PP) is the party of the largest number of politicians and former politicians in the list.

The Supreme Federal Court (STF) has also authorized inquiries on the treasurer of the ruling Workers' Party (PT) João Vaccari Neto, and on a business dealer known as Fernando “Baiano”, as well as other people who were either congress or cabinet members at the time the “mensalão” cash-for-vote scandal emerged – including the former Finance Minister of President Lula's administration, Antônio Palocci, and former deputies Pedro Corrêa and Pedro Henry. Other people who will be investigated include four former ministers under incumbent President Dilma Rousseff – Mário Negromonte (Ministry of Cities), Gleisi Hoffmann (Chief of Staff), Edison Lobão (Mines and Energy), and Agnaldo Ribeiro (Ministry of Cities).

With the beginning of the investigations, the suspects' telephone communications, banking, and tax information are no longer confidential, as well as all documents in the case.

Following is the list of suspects submitted to the STF, with the politicians' parties in brackets:

Senators
Renan Calheiros (PMDB)
Gleisi Hoffmann (PT)
Lindbergh Farias (PT)
Edison Lobão (PMDB)
Fernando Collor (PTB)
Humberto Costa (PT)
Ciro Nogueira (PP)
Benedito de Lira (PP)
Gladison Cameli (PP)
Romero Jucá (PMDB
Antonio Anastasia (PSDB)
Valdir Raupp (PMDB)

Deputies
Eduardo Cunha (PMDB)
Simão Sessim (PP)
Vander Loubet (PT)
Aníbal Gomes (PMDB)
Arthur Lira (PP)
José Otávio Germano (PP)
Luiz Fernando Ramos Faria (PP)
Nelson Meurer (PP)
Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP)
Eduardo da Fonte (PP)
Dilceu João Sperafico (PP)
Jeronimo Goergen (PP)
Sandes Junior (PP)
Afonso Hamm (PP)
Missionário José Olimpio (PP)
Lázaro Botelho (PP)
Luiz Carlos Heinze (PP)
Renato Delmar Molling (PP)
Roberto Pereira de Britto (PP)
Waldir Maranhão Cardoso (PP)
Roberto Balestra (PP)
José Mentor (PT)

Other politicians
João Leão (PP) – State Deputy Governor, Bahia
Mário Negromonte (PP) – former Federal Deputy
Roseana Sarney (PMDB) – former State Governor, Maranhão
João Pizzolati (PP) – former Federal Deputy
Cândido Vaccareza (PT) – former Federal Deputy
Roberto Teixeira (PP) – former Federal Deputy
Luiz Argôlo (SD) – former Federal Deputy
José Linhares (PP) – former Federal Deputy
Pedro Corrêa (PP) – former Federal Deputy
Pedro Henry (PP) – former Federal Deputy
Vilson Luiz Covatti (PP) – former Federal Deputy
Carlos Magno (PP) – former Federal Deputy
Aline Correa (PP) – former Federal Deputy
Antonio Palocci (PT) – former Minister

Other (non-government) names
Fernando Antonio Falcão Soares (Fernando Baiano)
João Vaccari Neto – Treasurer, Workers' Party (PT)

Translated by Mayra Borges