Rivals in Lava Jato, Deltan and Richa exchange accusations – 03/18/2023 – Politics

On opposite sides in Lava Jato and now elected federal deputies for Paraná, former governor Beto Richa (PSDB) and former prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol (Podemos) are locked in an open clash.

Since the beginning of the legislature, they have decided to exchange accusations on social networks and in interviews. There was also a pin thrown during a meeting of the Paraná bench in Brasília and a proposal for an “eye to eye” debate on a radio on Friday (17), later cancelled.

A veteran of Paraná politics, with two terms as mayor in Curitiba and another two in the government, the toucan tries to rebuild his trajectory after being hit hard in the middle of the 2018 campaign by Lava Jato, which had precisely in Deltan one of its symbols. The current deputy of Podemos left the Federal Public Ministry in 2021 to enter politics and was the most voted in Paraná last year.

richa said to Sheet that, if before the colleague was “all powerful”, today the two are “on the same level”.

“I’m just defending myself now. I couldn’t before. He [Deltan] he was the hero of Brazil. He had the strength of Lava Jato behind him. I just want society to know this citizen. When he was the hero of Lava Jato, it was easy. He ordered the arrest, ordered the release, promoted a public lynching”, says the toucan.

Richa still responds to lawsuits today, but he is referring to the height of Operation Lava Jato, a turbulent period for him and his allies in politics. Between October 2018 and November 2019 alone, Richa became a defendant in eight criminal actions, and was taken to prison three times. As the state’s main political leader, he cast only 3.7% of the valid votes for senator in the election five years ago.

Part of the denunciations was offered by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, with the signature of Deltan, in the midst of investigations related to Operation Integration and Operation Pilot. The other complaints —related to Operation Radio Patrol and Operation Blackboard– were presented by the state Public Prosecutor’s Office. Afterwards, the defense of Richa and allies managed to take all criminal actions to the Electoral Justice, and the cases are still being processed.

wanted by Sheet to comment on the subject, Deltan forwarded a note, in which he states that Richa is “someone who cannot explain to society the crimes of which he is accused”. “That’s why he tries to make it a personal fight, to take revenge on those who did their work against corruption.”

Deltan said that the work done in relation to the toucan was “technical” and carried out in “a group of 15 to 20 prosecutors, based on facts and robust evidence of crimes”.

In the political sphere, Richa understands that the impact of the investigation operations in the middle of the 2018 election campaign was evident – ​​“Dallagnol took the election from me”, says the toucan.

After the defeat at the polls that year, he disappeared from the spotlight and avoided the press. He was even treated as “a card out of the deck” by members of the PSDB summit. It circulated again in the political environment only at the end of 2021, already with an eye on the following year’s elections.

Last October, Richa obtained 65,000 votes and did not immediately win a seat in the Chamber – in the end, he was promoted to replace Jocelito Canto, whose candidacy ended up being rejected by the Electoral Court. In the same election, the former attorney received 345,000 votes. Today, the two are pointed out as “bench enemies”.

On social networks, Deltan criticized his former target in the Judiciary. “Why is Richa a federal deputy? The people of Paraná know what Beto Richa did last summer, and that is why he lost the Senate election in 2018 and also did not get the necessary votes to be elected federal deputy in 2022. Only is a federal deputy because Jocelito Canto had his candidacy rejected.”

In the same post, the former prosecutor states that Richa “continues to attack Lava Jato because, like several politicians accused of corruption, he cannot explain the embezzlement”.

Richa counters by stating that the Chamber colleague “acts in bad faith”. “He did everything he did at Lava Jato with a single objective: self-promotion. The mask fell off when the promiscuous dialogues came to light. They murdered reputations and still laughed. Today he doesn’t face me, he doesn’t look into my eyes. He’s a saint of all foot of clay”, attacks Richa.

For the former governor, the sole objective of Lava Jato prosecutors was “to seize power, criminalizing political activity”.

Asked whether he saw the same supposed objective in relation to PT president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who had convictions issued in Lava Jato annulled by the Federal Supreme Court, Richa said that “I only speak for myself”, but that “it was clear that the their practice, in the heyday of Lava Jato, was illegal”.

“They were the law. All the time picking targets to shoot.”

In addition to public agents and politicians, Operation Integration, derived from Lava Jato, targeted businessmen and toll concessionaires.

The lawsuits, however, went to another Federal Court, since the then federal judge Sergio Moro (now a senator for Paraná and affiliated with União Brasil) saw no direct connection between the case and the deviations related to Petrobras and the construction company Odebrecht.

The Pilot Operation, on the other hand, remained within the scope of Lava Jato and has among its elements an Odebrecht denunciation that points to the payment of bribes to Richa’s political group. The sum of money would have been paid for the contractor to take over the PR-323 duplication work. The toucan has always denied all accusations.