At least 15 of the 20 candidates who might run for president of Brazil in the October elections are targeted in more than 160 cases in courts throughout the country. Cases range from investigations in the Lava Jato operation to traffic offenses, and while in some cases would-be candidates are still only under investigation, in others they are either accused, or defendants, or have been sentenced – one of them was even arrested: former president Lula da Silva (PT), who is currently leading the poles.
Brazilian federal police on Thursday arrested a former head of Petrobras and the Banco do Brasil, marking a new chapter of the sweeping graft probe into the state-owned oil company. Three people were detained in the operation, the prosecutor's office said in a statement, as part of the Car Wash investigation that has uncovered systemic corruption and ensnared many of Brazil's political and business elites.
Brazil's federal police announced late Thursday that they are shutting down the primary task force assigned to a jumbo corruption investigation, drawing criticism from prosecutors who said it would undermine the probe. The investigation, known as “Operation Car Wash,” is Brazil's largest-ever corruption probe. It has jailed top politicians and business executives and led to allegations against President Michel Temer.
French financial prosecutors have launched an investigation into a 6.7 billion euro (US$7.5 billion) 2008 contract between naval supplier DCNS and Brazil that included the sale of five submarines, it was reported on Sunday in Paris.
A Brazilian judge reinstated the nomination of a top ally of President Michel Temer to a ministerial post, but ruled he could not receive the legal protections other high-ranking politicians enjoy.
The offices of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers leak, were raided on 9 February as part of an ongoing investigation into Brazil's biggest corruption scandal, the so called Operation Carwash (Lava Jato in Portuguese) involving the state-run oil company Petrobras.
Brazil's president Michel Temer said that he would wait to name a replacement for the Supreme Court justice who died in a plane crash until after the court reassigns a major corruption case he was handling.
Another major clash between Brazil's Supreme Court and Congress in the making. Justice Luiz Fux ruled to return the anti-corruption bill back to its initial stages in the Lower House, despite the fact the fill had already reached Senate and was preparing to put the bill to a vote.
Brazil’s national development bank has frozen $13.5bn of funds for 47 overseas projects, including those in Angola, Mozambique, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, as yet more corruption charges are brought against politicians and executives arising from the Lava Jato corruption probe.
The corruption-related arrest of a former top Brazilian lawmaker on Wednesday threatens to revive political turmoil and snap the momentum of a government economic reform campaign. Eduardo Cunha was taken into police custody Wednesday on accusations of corruption and money laundering related to oil platform contracts with state-controlled Petrobras. He denies the accusations.