Gleisi says that Lava Jato created Bolsonaro and “almost” did not reinstate dictatorship in the country

The national president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffmann, stated that Operation Lava Jato, which turns 10 this month, left a political legacy that elected Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in 2018 and that “barely” reinstated the dictatorship in the country.

The deputy states that the operation, which had 80 phases in which an intricate network of corruption involving state companies, politicians and parties was discovered, had as its “only real target” the then former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), and which led to the discredit of democratic institutions.

“The political legacy of Lava Jato, whose only real target was Lula, was the election of an extreme right-wing president in 2018, who narrowly missed reinstating the dictatorship in the country. Its institutional legacy was the discredit in institutions, especially the Public Ministry and the Judiciary, which today are striving to rebuild it,” he stated in a post on social media (see in full).

Gleisi Hoffmann repeated the speech reiterated several times by Lula that Lava Jato profoundly affected the economy, costing “the destruction of the strategic export sector of services, engineering, oil and gas, the condemnation of 4 million people to unemployment and incalculable, but immense, damage to the country’s economy.”

“It was a painful experience that, despite the immense damage caused to the country, the rule of law and democracy, left us with a lesson in the heroic resistance of President Lula and those who supported him in defending his innocence”, he added.

The Lava Jato investigations began in April 2014, following a case of money laundering at a gas station and unfolding into a broad criminal scheme involving fraud, corruption and money laundering.

Among the most emblematic cases of Lava Jato is the conviction of Lula in the first instance for corruption in the Guarujá triplex case by the then judge Sérgio Moro, head of the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba. The arrest took place in April 2018 after conviction in the second instance.

After more than a year – 580 days –, Lula was released in November 2019, as a result of a decision by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) that revoked the possibility of arresting those convicted in the second instance.

The Lava Jato task force, based in Curitiba, ended its activities in February 2021 after the publication of a decree from the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) in December 2020. Subsequently, five members joined the Action Group Special Combating Organized Crime (Gaeco), continuing the work until August 2022.

In August 2022, Minister Fachin, rapporteur of Lava Jato cases at the STF, released an overview of the task force’s actions. The data revealed that throughout the operation, the STF carried out 221 search and seizure warrants, 12 preventive arrests, two temporary arrests, 29 complaints, involving 102 defendants, resulting in four convictions.

The Paraná task force, which led the investigations, carried out 1,450 search and seizure warrants, 132 preventive arrests, 163 temporary arrests, 130 complaints, involving 533 defendants, and resulting in 278 convictions.