Judge Moro releases tapped calls between Lula and Rousseff
Judge Sérgio Moro, who is presiding over Operation Car Wash corruption case, released on Wednesday evening (Mar. 16) recordings of tapped telephone conversations of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The judge also revoked the confidentiality of the investigations on Lula and said he will send all materials about the former president to the Supreme Court (STF) as soon as Lula takes office as Chief of Staff.
One of the recordings is a conversation between Lula and President Dilma Rousseff that took place on Wednesday afternoon (March. 16) at 1:32 pm, after Lula's appointment as Chief of Staff was announced. The conversation is in the Federal Police's intelligence report, in which Lula's initials (LILS) were used to indicate him.
Rousseff telephoned Lula and told him she was sending him a copy of his appointment document.
According to Moro, “the case for privacy or social interest is not enough to justify the confidentiality” of the investigation of white-collar crimes.
In Moro's opinion, Lula suspected he was being tapped. “The contents of the transcribed conversations suggests that the former president was aware, or at least suspected, that he was being monitored by Federal Police, which raises questions about the spontaneity and reliability of several of these conversations,” the judge said.
Moro's decision was also based on an understanding that the public interest and the constitutional principle of openness should prevail over the confidentiality of the recordings.
“By lifting the confidentiality protection, we not only ensure the conditions for the accused to make his defense, but also allow salutary public scrutiny of both public administration and criminal enforcement activities. Democracy in a free society requires that the nation ruled by a government know what this government is doing, even when it tries to act undercover,” the judge said.
In a widely media covered conversation, President Rousseff told Lula she was “sending Messias [Jorge Messias, deputy head of legal affairs of the Office of the Chief of Staff] over with the papers so it's at hand in case you need to use it—I mean the instrument of investiture, all right?”
Lula gave the thumbs-up and said he was waiting, and they said goodbye.
An Instrument of Investiture is a document that a public officer signs when taking office. In the case of a cabinet position, once sworn in, he or she will have a constitutional right to be tried by the Supreme Court only. Therefore, as soon as former president Lula signs his Instrument of Investiture, he will legally gain minister status and therefore the right to have any cases against him tried by the Supreme Court only (“foro privilegiado”).
The president's answer
Once the recording was released to the press, the office of presidential communications (SECOM) issued a statement explaining the subject of the conversation between President Rousseff and former president Lula. It said the conversation had a “republican tone”, and went on to explain that Lula's appointment document was sent to him so he could sign it in case he was unable to attend the inauguration ceremony set to take place at 10 am on Thursday (Mar. 17), when another two ministers would also be sworn in. “The new minister, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was not sure if he would be able to attend the joint inauguration ceremony, so the President of the Republic sent his Instrument of Investiture. It was only to be used in case the [appointed] minister was unable to attend [his inauguration],” the note read.
“Thus, despite the republican tone of the conversation, [the President] strongly condemns its disclosure, which violates rights of a President of the Republic. The appropriate legal and administrative action will be taken to put right this flagrant violation of the law and Constitution by the judge responsible for this leak,” the note concluded.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Judge Moro releases tapped calls between Lula and Rousseff
