Celebrating five years of Lava Jato: all there is to know about Brazil's biggest corruption plot

Corruptions with which businessmen, politicians and directors of Petrobras have diverted the coffers of Brazil for almost ten years they seem to be multiplying in an endless pandemic, an excessive conspiracy that began to unfold with Lava Jato, and that after five years and 60 steps after, is far from concluding.

Since the breakdown of the plot, in 2014, 1,196 search and seizure warrants, 227 coercive behaviors and 310 imprisonment (temporary or preventive) pronounced by federal justice against 267 persons were served, some of whom are still on the run, according to the Attorney General's office.

The judiciary has already pbaded sentence in 50 proceedings and distributed 242 convictions against 155 people. The sum of the sentences is 2 242 years and 5 days.

In addition, as part of the operation, headed by Judge Sergio Moro – now Minister of Justice –, 10 acts of administrative impropriety were also committed against 63 people, 18 companies and three political parties (PP, MDB and PSB), demanding the payment of 18,300 million reais (about 4,800 millions of dollars) to justice.

In addition, the judiciary seeks to recover through various legal agreements approximately 13,000 million reals (about 3,400 million dollars), according to the public prosecutor.

Big hits recognized

A hundred politicians were dotted with these corruptions, discovered by the largest operation against corruption in the history of Brazil, a conspiracy that reaches its fifth year this Sunday.

Among them, two former presidents: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), imprisoned for corruption and money laundering since April 2018, and Fernando Collor (1990-1992), continued after being accused of receiving bribes to facilitate the signing of contracts with a Petrobras subsidiary.

Lula adds 25 years in prison for two trials, both for corruption and money laundering.

Among politicians are also highlighted Jose Dirceu, former minister of Lula between 2003 and 2005, sentenced to 31 years in prison for pbadive bribery, money laundering and undue advantage. However, he is awaiting trial on appeal by his defense. Antonio Palocci, also former minister of Lula and former president Dilma Rousseff, was sentenced to 12 years.

Eduardo Cunha, former president of the Chamber of Deputies of the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), who led the impeachment process of Rousseff, was sentenced to 14 years and six months in prison for receiving bribes in the Petrobras case. Sergio Cabral, the former governor of Rio de Janeiro, for his part, has accumulated up to eight prison sentences including nearly 200 years of imprisonment.

The leaders of Petrobras were sentenced to prison Paulo Roberto Costa (20 years old), Renato Duque (73 years old and 7 months old), Néstor Cerveró (27 years old and 4 months old) and Jorge Zelada (15 years old and 3 months old).

On the Odebrecht side, the convicts were Marcelo OdebrechtGroup President, 19 years and 4 months in prison; Otávio Márques e Azevedo (18 years); Leo Pinheiro (over 35 years old) and Dalton Avancini (15 years and 2 months).

Strong impact of the cause

The impact caused by Jato's lava has radically changed the actions of the institutions and the way of thinking of Brazilian society.

One of the most striking results was the result of last October's election, which won the victory of Jair Bolsonaro, a 25-year-old politician with no transcendence and who is part of a previously insignificant party.

The revelations of Lava Jato, in which many of the people involved were leaders of the Left Workers Party (PT), starting with Lula, They generated widespread mistrust of politicians in Brazil.

Added to this was the rising unemployment rate due to the deep economic crisis that the country experienced in 2015 and 2016, which increased mistrust and prompted society to seek a radically different response.

This is how the corruption plot was discovered

The Lava Jato operation was brought to light on March 17, 2014 with the capture of about twenty people in 7 Brazilian states.

The investigations revealed that construction companies paid millionaires bribes to win rigged contracts from the national oil company Petrobras.

However, investigations date back to July 2013, when police in Curitiba, in southern Brazil, discovered a money laundering network operating from automatic car wash cars known as Lava Jato.

This is where comes the name of Brazil's most famous operationa device recognized worldwide and with which the authorities have never imagined to reach the dimensions it has reached.

The success – and also the Achilles heel – of this operation and all its weapons was the conclusion of agreements with the justice, known in Brazil under the name of "denunciations rewarded", a tool that put "singing" to many of the people involved, in exchange for benefits such as reducing penalties.

Repentant and legal gaps

Most "collaborators" – both by giving names and paying millions of fines for their actions – were the directors of Petrobras and the businessmen, many of whom serve the phrases in their luxurious mansions.

AT Michael Mohallem, coordinator of the Center for Justice and Society of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation Law School, this strategy was applauded for the revealed truths, but also criticized for the way in which the sentences were reduced.

"The award-winning complaint is a very powerful instrument to fight corruption, but I think the way it has been used, giving the informants an excessive voice, casts doubt on the institutions and creates mistrust," he said. he declared to the agency. EFE.

According to the academic, it is necessary "define" the limits of this strategy and also examine the "gaps" that exist in the judicial system, so that sentences are becoming clearer.

There are currently legal loopholes in criminal proceedings, among which is the one in which Lula is incarcerated.: if a person found guilty in the second instance must go to prison or not.

Current case law states that a person must start serving his sentence once it has been ratified in the second instance, which the Supreme Court has ratified for a case that was before Lula.

However, the law also says that until the last resort is exhausted, the convicted person is not required to go to prison, a tool that used Lula's defense to present a new resource on which the Supreme is not yet pronounced.

The case is that beyond the time when justice is done to clarify the shortcomings, the business revealed by the Lava Jato operation is continuing and the number of chips remaining to fall is uncertain.

(With information from EFE / María Angélica Troncoso)