A member of the Public Prosecutor's Office says the leak is 'criminal' and calls for an investigation into the mention of Toffoli.
Council member Luiz Fernando Bandeira de Mello has submitted a request to the Inspector General of the National Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office asking for an investigation into the leak of an alleged document in which businessman Marcelo Odebrecht implicates the president of the Supreme Federal Court, Dias Toffoli; Bandeira says the leaks may have originated from within the Public Prosecutor's Office itself.
247 - Council member Luiz Fernando Bandeira de Mello has submitted a request to the Inspector General's Office of the National Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office to open an internal disciplinary procedure to investigate the leak of an alleged document in which businessman Marcelo Odebrecht implicates the president of the Supreme Federal Court, Dias Toffoli.
"I have always been concerned and publicly expressed my opinion regarding the criminal and irresponsible leaks of elements from proceedings that are under seal. The consequences of these leaks can be disastrous, both for those under investigation and for the public officials involved, sometimes rendering the pursuit of the public interest ineffective," the council member stated in an interview with the Jota website.
According to him, it is necessary to investigate the leak and, if it is the responsibility of any member or employee of the Public Prosecutor's Office, "it is essential to investigate and adopt the appropriate disciplinary measures."
In the request, Bandeira wants to know who had access to the aforementioned document before April 11th, the date on which the aforementioned report was written, and, in the event that members or employees of the Public Prosecutor's Office had access to such documents, they should also provide clarifications regarding the facts.
In 2004, then-judge Sérgio Moro wrote the article "Considerations on Operation Mani Pulite" [Italy's Clean Hands Operation], an investigation carried out in the 1990s, which inspired Moro to lead Lava Jato. In the article, he defends the "extensive use of the press" as a way to wear down leaders. This strategy was widely used in Lava Jato with selective leaks.
This measure comes in addition to the decision by Minister Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), who ordered Revista Crusoé and the website O Antagonista to remove the report on the subject from their websites, as part of the investigation into alleged attacks on the STF and its ministers, and in response to a request from Toffoli himself.
"Thus, once again in a regrettable episode, documents from confidential court records were made available to unauthorized persons, or in current language, were leaked," emphasized Bandeira de Mello.