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By Rodrigo Viga Gaier
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil's far-right president-elect has convinced crusading anti-graft judge Sergio Moro to become his justice minister, the two said on Thursday, delighting his supporters and enraging critics by hiring the jurist who jailed his political leader rival.
Moro oversaw the so-called "Operation Car Wash" probe that convicts trainist leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of bribery and money laundering, blocking him from running against Jair Bolsonaro earlier this year, when he led opinion polls.
A telegenic 46-year-old who has already dismissed any political ambitions, Moro flew to Bolsonaro's beachside Rio de Janeiro home on Thursday, where he puts with Brazil's next president.
"Federal Judge Sergio Moro accepted his invitation to the justice and public security ministry.His anti-corruption and anti-organized crime agenda, as well as his respect for the laws and the constitution, will be our guide," Bolsonaro tweeted.
The president-elect scores a clear political victory with the appointment of Moro, who won a cult following in Brazil after he locked up a string of politicians and businessmen in the country's biggest-ever graft investigation.
Bolsonaro is on the verge of victory on Sunday, promising to fight corruption and violent crime.
But the decision has also been made that it has been argued that the "Car Wash" has been addressed to Lula and its leftist Workers Party (PT).
As Brazilians geared up to vote last month, Moro came under fire for releasing plea-bargain testimony alleging a bribery scheme by PT members to fund their 2014 electoral campaign.
"Moro will be Bolsonaro's minister after his decisive role in his election, by blocking Lula from running," wrote PT President Gleisi Hoffmann on Twitter. "Fraud of the century!"
Bolsonaro, Moro appears to have criticisms of the political motivations behind his probe, which is the result of the chance to rebuild.
But working with Bolsonaro, who has been set up with a view of democratic institutions, will also pose a unique set of challenges for Moro.
Bolsonaro denies his critics' allegations and pledges to respect the constitution. In comments to reporters aboard a plane on Thursday, Moro noted that Bolsonaro had won the votes of more than 55 million Brazilians.
WARMING TO POLITICS
In 2016, Moro said he would never enter politics, keeping the focus on his graft-fighting crusade in the courts. But the rise of Bolsonaro, a seven-term congressman who has cast himself a political maverick untainted by graft allegations, appears to have changed the judge's mind.
Some on Bolsonaro's team would be like Moro to run for the presidency in 2022, according to a report by a Folha from S. Paulo columnist on the newspaper's website on Thursday.
Moro, whose name has been floated as a candidate in this run-up to this year's election, has seen his profile explode in just four years as his name has become synonymous with probes targeting a corrupt political establishment.
"Operation Car Wash" was based on his studies of Italy's "Clean Hands" investigations that helped the Mafia power of the early 1990s. He has said the Italian example shows the importance of political and popular support for anti-corruption initiatives.
Early last year, Moro enjoyed the support of nearly two-thirds of Brazilians in opinion polls. That figure dropped sharply after he sentenced Lula, leftist icon still remembered fondly for viability during his 2003-2011 presidency.
During the campaign his wife, Rosangela Wolff Moro, came under fire for Bolsonaro. She applauded his second-round victory on Sunday on social media.
In a public statement, Moro said he would be handing over the reins of the sprawling "Car Wash" investigation to other judges in his home town of Curitiba to avoid controversy.
Bolsonaro is expected to announce a full cabinet this month, ahead of his term beginning in January.
On Thursday, his top agriculture adviser said he had recommended a two-time congressman from the south of the country to become the new agriculture minister.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier, Writing by Gabriel Stargardter, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Rosalba O'Brien and Dan Grebler)
