Punishments for Moro and Deltan are light for the crimes they committed, says Gilmar

The minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Gilmar Mendes, said that the punishments for the former prosecutor, Deltan Dallagnol, and the former Lava Jato judge, Sergio Moro, “are light for the crimes they committed”.

The statement was made during an interview with the newspaper Economic valuethis Wednesday (6).

On the occasion, Gilmar was questioned about possible exaggeration in the revocation of Deltan’s federal deputy mandate and the risk of Sergio Moro’s senatorial mandate being revoked.

In addition to Moro and Deltan, the minister also criticized the actions of the former Attorney General of the Republic, Rodrigo Janot, within the scope of Lava Jato.

“I think the punishments are light for the crimes they committed. And there are still some characters missing. A major person responsible, whether by action or omission, is Janot, who has gone unscathed”, said Gilmar.

According to the minister, Lava Jato damaged the image of the Brazilian Judiciary and insinuated that the operation may have been used to embezzle money.

“The structure of the Judiciary is affected. I hope we stop believing in saviors. If all this money, in broad daylight, passed through the Curitiba Court and no one followed, where are the correction bodies? This is very serious. It shows an ineptitude. Maybe because they were armored, they felt empowered, they became the sovereign […] everyone was excited to make money in this process. That Dallagnol foundation was created. A promiscuity. We are awaiting the report from the General Inspectorate of Justice on the correction process carried out at the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba. There are billions transferred to unidentified destinations”, said Gilmar.

The minister also linked Lava Jato to the election of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

“This is mixed with Dilma’s bad government. There were the demonstrations in June 2013, there was something going on due to general dissatisfaction. And then the fight against corruption came in handy. Suddenly, corruption was to blame, when, in fact, we had a lost government, trying to pass laws that had no parameters, such as those on whistleblowing and criminal organizations. In this situation, Lava-Jato enters, the thing gains popular support, comes the easy and wrong speeches from Curitiba. They make the Ten Measures Against Corruption, and who leads this in the Chamber of Deputies? Onyx Lorenzoni, who was already an intellectual leader of Bolsonaro, was already engaged in the campaign at that point. So that connection exists,” he stated.

This March, Operation Lava Jato turns 10 years old with 50% approval from Brazilians, according to a Quaest survey. The survey also revealed that 42% of those interviewed believe that the operation ended due to pressure from politicians. Another 25% believe that there was exaggeration on the part of investigators and judges.

The operation also turns 10 years old at the same time that leniency agreements are suspended. The expectation is that the discussion about the suspension of the agreements will end up reaching the STF.

“Let’s wait. Strictly speaking, the law allows leniency with the AGU [Advocacia-Geral da União] and with the CGU [Controladoria-Geral da União]. An interpretation was obtained with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, because there is no law authorizing it. And ended up becoming the strongest. In the circumstances created, if the person reported and their company did not take leniency, they could be arrested. It worked like a game of pressure and blackmail. There was no method. They guessed the number and the companies accepted it”, said Gilmar.