Increasingly a candidate and less a judge, Moro buries Lava Jato.

By Helena Chagas, for Journalists for Democracy 

Former minister and former judge Sérgio Moro threw himself headlong into defending what remains of Lava Jato this weekend, in a series of interviews. The Attorney General's Office (PGR) began questioning procedures in Curitiba during the operation, ranging from the inclusion of "camouflaged" names of politicians in indictments to suspicions of informal and unauthorized collaboration with the FBI, and alleged attempts to secretly investigate Supreme Court authorities. Moro knows that if Lava Jato is discredited because of its methods, it will lose its main legacy. What the former minister seems not to realize is that the more he engages in this debate, the more political and less judicial he becomes – which could be very bad for him and for Lava Jato.

Paradoxical as it may seem, if Moro wanted to defend Lava Jato, he should, on the contrary, try to depoliticize it. Otherwise, everything will be reduced to a fight between political factions – as, indeed, is already happening.

The former judge stepped on a banana peel this Sunday on Globonews when he referred to the interrogation hearing of former President Lula as a "ring with Lula." It is unacceptable, by legal standards, to consider it normal for a judge to refer to a procedure he carried out with a defendant as a "ring." Even if the judge is no longer a judge and is now a pre-candidate for the presidency of the Republic who wants to polarize against the one he convicted.

Supreme Court to judge Moro's impartiality.

But things aren't that simple. Moro only got where he is because of his work as a judge in the Lava Jato operation. When he himself politicized his actions at that time, he opened a huge flank for judicial questioning of his impartiality. When the Supreme Court resumes the trial of an appeal filed by Lula's defense alleging bias in the former president's conviction, it will no longer have a judge on the other side of the case. Nor a Minister of State. It will have a would-be presidential candidate – and it will be very difficult to convey the idea that the country's Supreme Court believes in his impartiality, even if it is in the past.

That's how a good portion of Brasília's politicians think, who were frightened last week by what could be Lava Jato's final gasp against the establishment: the operation against former governor and senator José Serra. In the general interpretation, it was a way for Lava Jato to try to show that it hasn't died, and many people in the capital were once again losing sleep, afraid of the doorbell ringing in the middle of the night. Therefore, the strategy of these politicians is to add fuel to the fire of politicization, which could benefit many more people besides Lula.

This is how the kind words of the Speaker of the House, Rodrigo Maia, regarding Moro, on Globonews, should be interpreted. Besides praising his performance at the Ministry of Justice, Maia added a touch of politicization to the confrontation between the Attorney General's Office and Lava Jato, and above all, he criticized Moro, considering him a "very strong" candidate in 2022, "with a good chance of reaching the second round." The moment its main figure becomes a "very strong candidate" for president, Lava Jato is truly finished.