Prosecutor General Blocks Possible Investigation into Aécio Neves

03/05/2015 - 12h56

The name of Minas Gerais senator Aécio Neves (PSDB) has appeared in testimonies during the Federal Police's Operation Lava Jato, though the Prosecutor General has ruled out the possibility of any investigation into last year's defeated presidential candidate.

Rodrigo Janot, Prosecutor General, recommended that the Supreme Court archive the request for an investigation into Neves made by prosecutors working on the case. The exact testimony that provoked the request remains unknown, as the evidence has yet to be made public.

During the Lava Jato investigations, a construction firm suggested that business leaders had put pressure on Neves.

Janot also recommended that the request for an investigation into the ex-president of the National Congress, Henrique Eduardo Alves, be shelved. The PMDB congressman for Rio Grande do Norte is now likely to become minister for tourism. He had not assumed the position as there were concerns that he would be the target of investigations.

Requests for investigations into Paraná senator Gleisi Hoffman (PT) and her husband, the ex-minister Paulo Bernardo, have been accepted by the Prosecutor General. The decision to pursue them further now lies with Supreme Court judge Teori Zavascki.

As Folha has learned, the requests against Hoffman and her husband are the result of testimony by the black market currency dealer Alberto Youssef. Yousseff alleges that R$1 million (US$336,000) was delivered to the senator's campaign in 2010.

The Prosecutor General sent the Supreme Court 28 requests concerning 54 people implicated in the Lava Jato case, including both the president of Congress, Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ) and president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (PMDB-AL).

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE