'Petrobras investigation is an incomplete story'

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes expressed surprise that the investigation into the Petrobras corruption scandal did not name any high-ranking government officials: "What I perceived, from reading the documents that reached the Supreme Court and from my critical analysis, is that this narrative is incomplete. There is talk of the participation of political parties and party members, but there is no mention of any government authority that ordered this practice to be carried out." During an event in Goiânia, alongside Governor Marconi Perillo (PSDB), the Justice said the presence of the names of the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies on Prosecutor Janot's list was serious.

March 17, 2015, 08:20 PMUpdated May 27, 2019, 09:22 AM

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes says he finds it strange that the investigation into the Petrobras corruption scandal does not name any high-ranking government officials: "What I perceived, from reading the documents that reached the Supreme Court, and in the critical analysis I made, is that this narrative is incomplete. There is talk of the participation of political parties, and members of parties, but there is no mention of any government authority that ordered this practice to be carried out"; during an event in Goiânia, alongside Governor Marconi Perillo (PSDB), the minister said the presence of the names of the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies on the list of prosecutor Janot is serious (Photo: Roberta Namour).

247 – Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes stated in Goiânia that the investigation into the Petrobras corruption scandal is an “incomplete narrative” because it fails to name any government officials involved.

In a ceremony alongside the governor of Goiás, Marconi Perillo (PSDB), Gilmar said that the presence of the names of the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber on the list of the Attorney General of the Republic, Rodrigo Janot, was serious, but he found it strange that Lava Jato did not point to names from the top of the government.

"What I realized, from reading the documents that reached the Supreme Court, and from the critical analysis I made, is that this narrative is incomplete. It talks about the participation of political parties, and members of parties, but it doesn't mention any governmental authority that determined that this practice should be carried out," he said.

"Gentlemen, you see that the PP has a large share in this so-called 'Janot list'. But has anyone considered the importance of the PP in the country's administrative life? So, it seems that this is a narrative that needs improvement, otherwise it won't even make it into the Sapucaí," he assessed.

The minister cites the testimony of former Petrobras manager Pedro Barusco as an argument: “If Barusco says that there was an institutional definition – that is, institutionalized corruption from 2004 onwards – who determined that? It couldn't have been these congressmen, some of whom we don't even know the names of, from the PP party. It wasn't the congressmen who determined that, so this narrative needs further explanation.”