Rousseff not among suspects to be investigated by the Supreme Court
Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo said there is no evidence or facts to make the case for investigating President Dilma Rousseff as part of the Car Wash Operation
Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo said there is no evidence or facts to make the case for investigating President Dilma Rousseff as part of the Car Wash Operation (the Federal Police operation targeted mainly at the Petrobras scandal). He denied any government interference in the Supreme Federal Court's decision to investigate a list of suspects submitted by Attorney-General Rodrigo Janot last Friday (Mar. 6), and emphasized the independence of public agencies engaging in the investigations.
Cardozo gave a news conference on Saturday (Mar. 7), he said, for the purpose of clarifying “mistaken” news reports about Rousseff being named on Janot's list. He explained Rousseff was only once referred to in the statement given by former Petrobras Downstream director Paulo Roberto Costa to a Federal Court when he mentioned receiving a request to transfer $660,000 from the Progressive Party (PP) coffers to help fund Rousseff's 2010 presidential campaign. According to his testimony, the request was made by former Finance Minister Antonio Palocci, then Rousseff's campaign chairman.
“There's no evidence in [Costa's] plea bargain statement that could implicate the president,” Cardozo said, arguing that even if there had been any, the president cannot be investigated for facts that happened before she took office as the president, as Janot explained in this petition to the Supreme Court.
The Justice Minister referred to the possibility of government interference and influence on the testimonies heard as part of plea bargain deals with prosecution as “totally implausible”. “Any assumption that the government could have interfered in any way to protect allies or punish whomever it would can be easily dispelled if you look at the facts and at the way Brazilian authorities currently operate,” he said referring to the independence of agencies such as the Federal Police and the Public Prosecutors.
The minister went on to reason that the government could not have had any influence or put words in the mouths of people who testified in the presence of prosecutors, the task force that is gathering information in the state of Paraná.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Rousseff not among suspects to be investigated by the Supreme Court
