Lack of Funds Will Affect Federal Police Operations, Says Justice Minister

07/28/2017 - 10h19

Justice Minister Torquato Jardim said that the Federal Police will not have sufficient funds to carry out all its operations this year and must therefore select its most important cases.

The Federal Police had already notified the federal government that, due to cuts and contingencies, it would not have the funds to get through the second semester, thus impacting the number of operations - among them, Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato).

"I need to be honest, frank and transparent. The need to implement a selection process for operations, the inability to carry out all operations or the need to partially carry out operations are some of the possible repercussions", said Mr. Torquato.

The Federal Police already suspended passport issuance last month due to a lack of resources. Congress only managed to resolve the impasse three weeks later through the approval of a R$ 102 million (US$ 32.38 million) bonus package aimed at tackling the issue.

Two weeks ago, the Federal Police decided to dismantle the Operation Car Wash task force in Paraná.

The organization offered its version, stating that the decision came from the Federal Police headquarters in the state of Paraná and had to do with internal personnel reallocation.

Most of the investigations tied to Operation Car Wash are concentrated in Curitiba, given that first instance coordination is under the auspices of Judge Sergio Moro, of the 13th Federal Court of Paraná.

Ever since Odebrecht executives - and more recently, JBS executives - went on record, however, Brasília has become an important hub for ongoing investigations due to the number of inquiries that have been opened by the STF, Brazil's Supreme Court.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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	Ueslei Marcelino - 31.mai.2017/Reuters
	Torquato Jardim, Minisiter of Justice of Brazil