Minister of Brazil's Supreme Court Rejects Calls for Imprisonment of PMDB Politicians

06/15/2016 - 10h28

The Minister of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) Teori Zavascki stated this Tuesday (14) that there were not sufficient grounds to imprison Senate President Renan Calheiros (PMDB-AL), Senator Romero Jucá (PMDB-RR) and ex-President José Sarney.

He made the decision following pleas from Brazil's General Prosecutor, Rodrigo Janot, that the men should be charged with attempted obstruction of justice.

Teori has yet to make a final decision regarding the imprisonment of suspended lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ), also accused of obstructing investigations against him. The Minister gave five days for Cunha to testify.

In the case of Calheiros, Jucá and Sarney, the Minister, currently acting as the rapporteur for Lava Jato in the Supreme Court, said that however objectionable the acts of the three politicians appear in Janot's evidence, there is not sufficient proof to warrant imprisonment.

This is the first major setback suffered by the General Prosecutor so far in the Lava Jato corruption inquiry. His pleas for imprisonment are based on recorded conversations between the ex-President of Transpetro Sérgio Machado and the three PMDB members.

The audios, which were passed on to the STF when Machado blew the whistle on the politicians, reveal Jucá, Calheiros and Sarney discussing ways of obstructing the Lava Jato inquiry.

According to the constitution, congressmen can only be imprisoned if they are caught committing crimes in flagrante. Teori claims the audios are not proof enough to implicate the senators.

Janot presented his conviction before the STF that Machado's recordings show the existence of a "plan in full execution to obstruct Operation Lava Jato" and discredit Machado's deposition. The ex-Presdient of Transpetro claimed that the three men were implicated in giving bribes of R$71.7 million (US$ 20.6 million).

Jucá, Calheiros and Sarney deny the accusions and have critised the behaviour of the General Prosecutor.

Translated by GILLIAN SOPHIE HARRIS

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