Corruption Part 2 – How to Get Away with Murder in Brazil

Step 1 – make friends with the President

Step 2 – become a minister

Step 3 – enjoy your immunity

This may sound a little flippant, but it’s not too far from the truth.  According to law, ministers may only be prosecuted by the STF (Supremo Tribunal Federal – Supreme Federal Court) thereby offering a measure of legal immunity.  In what sounds like the plot from a very poorly written soap opera, this is being exploited to prevent ex-president Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva (commonly known as Lula) from being prosecuted in the LavaJato investigation into corruption.

A small version of the inflatable caricatures of Lula

On 4^th March 2016, Lula was detained for questioning by Federal Police over suspicions of money laundering.  Due to the depth of corruption in upper levels of Petrobras and PT (the Worker’s Party, founded by Lula) many people in Brazil have long suspected that Lula must have been involved in corruption or at the very least have been aware and done nothing, so his questioning came as no surprise to many people, and many anti-corruption protests are characterised by large inflatable caricatures of Lula wearing convict clothes. 

On Friday 11^th March, it was announced that prosecutors were seeking the arrest of Lula in relation to charges of fraud and money laundering.  At around the same time, it because apparent that PT was planning to make Lula a minister to protect him from prosecution by Judge Sérgio Moro, the leading investigator of Operação Lava Jato. 

On Tuesday 15^th March, following massive protests on Sunday 13^th, Lula flew to Brasilia for talks with president Dilma which were completed on Wednesday 16^th March.  It was announced that chief of staff, Jaques Wagner, would stand down with “greatness and selflessness on the day of his birthday” to cede his post to Lula.  Some media outlets suggest that the purpose of this is to help protect president Dilma from impeachment proceedings and Dilma herself claims that the appointment is to start the economic recovery, but the timing of the decision and announcement is completely transparent: to protect Lula from prosecution as part of Lava Jato.

Sérgio Moro, Federal Judge in charge
of Operação Lava Jato

Within hours of the move, Judge Sérgio Moro released phone recordings that suggest, as was already widely suspected, that Lula’s appointment is to prevent his arrest.  In the recording, Dilma offered to send Lula a copy of his appointment “in case of necessity” – where the only conceivable occasion where this document would be necessary would be an attempted arrest.  Dilma has now said that she will refer the judge to the Supreme Court for political interference, a move that, to me at least, sounds a lot like “I’m telling my mummy on you.”  There was anger in Congress with opposition leaders accusing Dilma of breaching the constitution, chanting “resign, resign.”

...and for Lula

Protestors against Lula...

Of course, the anger was not contained to Congress as all this led to wide-spread protest across the country on Wednesday evening.  In every major city, people were in the streets wearing green and yellow, waving flags.  In São Paulo, protestors in Avenida Paulista, the principal avenue of the city, blocked traffic in both directions.  The police estimated that there were 5,000 protestors by 8:45pm and by the end of the night, this number has risen to 70,000.  In Brasilia, around 2,000 people protested at the presidential palace singing the national anthem.  In São Bernardo do Campo 200 protestors gathered outside Lula’s house, while a separate group of PT supporters also “protested.”  Given that Lula was being protected, it’s hard to see exactly what they were protesting – simply showing support for Lula by contributing to the noise that would keep him from sleeping!  To me, this form of demonstration to support the government seems reminiscent of demonstrations of support help under dictatorships, such as in Iraq and Libya.

 

Protestors in Brasilia.  The banner reads "we are with Sérgio Moro"

The protests even spread to smaller towns, such as Pato Branco.  At around 9:30pm, around the time of the official announcement, people around the city centre started banging sauce pans and flashing their house lights in protest.  On the streets, drivers were continually sounding their horns.  The banging continued for an hour, while the car horns were still going until 11pm.  After this, there was still the occasional angry beep.

Social media was awash with anger at the appointment and sadness for the state of Brazil.  Many people posted modified pictures of the Brazilian flag, sometimes showing tears, sometimes with the colours exchanged for black with the word “luto”, Portuguese for “mourning.”  A message quickly spread suggesting that everyone angry with Lula’s appointment should wear a black shirt on Thursday 17^th March.

Some of the posts on social media, the general themes are mourning and
fighting corruption

As an outsider, looking in on this system, I find it entirely unbelievable that anyone under a criminal investigation could be raised to a ministerial position within government.  Regardless of whether he is guilty or innocent, surely he should be suspended pending investigation and appear in court to determine the facts of the matter.  If he is proven innocent, then he would be free to continue with his life, take up any position in government and return to normal – the innocent have nothing to hide.  By making him a minister and thus immune from prosecution, PT is implying (strongly) his guilt and show no shame in protecting him.  Which, to my mind, raises important questions about the motives of the party and their involvement in the Lava Jato scandal.

If Lula is innocent of the charges brought against him, then it is baffling that he would choose a course of action that, far from clearing his name, implies guilt.  If he is guilty, then he’s (figuratively) just got away with murder.