By Bianca Oliveira
SAO PAOLO OF BRAZIL – The Car Wash corruption investigation (Lava Jato), the largest investigation of corruption and money laundering in Brazil, is going through a process of change in its work model after seven years of operation. Temporary teams created for cases that require a concentrated investigation effort, called task forces, will be dissolved by the end of 2021.
This Wednesday (3), the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF -Ministério Público Federal) announced the dissolution of the group that had worked at Lava Jato in Paraná since 2014. The team of prosecutors was decisive in the direction of national politics, responsible for the arrest of names like the former President Lula, former deputy Eduardo Cunha and businessman Marcelo Odebrecht.
In an official note, the MPF published a balance sheet of the 7 years of the operation. So far, there have been 79 phases, 1,450 search and seizure warrants and complaints against more than 500 defendants, of which 278 have been convicted. In addition to the return of R $ 4.3 billion through collaboration and leniency agreements.
Lava Jato task forces have been losing power since the appointment of Attorney General Augusto Aras by President Jair Bolsonaro in 2019. Aras considers the model very informal, institutionally fragile and capable of producing suspicions about investigators.
The credibility of Paraná’s prosecutors suffered a strong impact in 2019, with the leakage of conversations revealed by the website The Intercept Brasil and other press vehicles, which showed collaboration between the MPF and former judge Sergio Moro. This Monday (1st), Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, of the Supreme Federal Court, suspended the confidentiality of these conversations.
Some of the prosecutors of the Paraná task force migrated to the special action group to fight organized crime (Gaeco) to continue the investigations. São Paulo team was closed in September last year and, in Rio de Janeiro, the task force will be closed in April, when it will also be incorporated into Gaeco.