Death of Supreme Court Judge Zavascki Delays Plea Bargains and Investigations on President Temer

01/23/2017 - 14h00

The death of Supreme Court Justice (STF) and rapporteur of the Brazilian Federal Police's Lava Jato operation, Teori Zavascki, in an airplane crash on Thursday, January 19, will not delay only the official approval of the plea bargain made by construction company Odebrecht.

Agreements under negotiation, such as those of construction companies OAS, Andrade Gutierrez and Camargo Corrêa are also likely to take longer.

There are possible consequences on the investigations of the 2014 accounts of the Dilma Rousseff-Michel Temer election campaign in the country's Superior Electoral Court.

The president of the Superior Electoral Court, Justice Gilmar Mendes, said that he intends to wait for Odebrecht's plea bargain which might include reports of illegal transfers made to the Dilma Rousseff-Michel Temer campaign. Rousseff and Temer deny any violations.

At Zavascki's wake, President Michel Temer (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party) said that he will only appoint a substitute to Zavascki's place after Justice Cármen Lúcia, the president of the Supreme Court, decides who will be the new rapporteur of the Lava Jato case.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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