Members of the Workers' Party formally request that the Attorney General's Office investigate Aécio.

André Richter - Reporter for Agência Brasil

Deputies from the PT caucus in Minas Gerais today (19) asked the Attorney General's Office (PGR) to investigate Senator Aécio Neves (PSDB-MG) in Operation Lava Jato. The representation was filed by federal deputies Adelmo Leão, Padre João and state deputy Rogério Correa.

In plea bargain testimonies, Aécio Neves was mentioned by money launderer Alberto Youssef, but, in response to a request from the prosecution, Minister Teori Zavascki of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) determined that there is no minimum evidence to open an investigation against the senator.

According to PT (Workers' Party) parliamentarians, in addition to the facts narrated by the money launderer in Lava Jato, the Attorney General's Office should investigate the "Furnas List," an alleged corruption scheme that came to light in 2006, in which politicians and parties supposedly received money for undeclared campaign funds. The funds allegedly originated from Furnas, a state-owned energy company. At the time, the authenticity of the list was questioned by the opposition.

According to the congressmen, among those mentioned on the list is "the then candidate for governor of Minas Gerais and current senator, Aécio Neves".

"The following documents, now combined, point, at a minimum, to the need to initiate an investigation that effectively identifies the illegal acts perpetrated against the aforementioned companies and rigorously punishes all those responsible for and beneficiaries of the crimes possibly committed against public funds," the deputies argue.

In his plea bargain testimony, money launderer Alberto Youssef, arrested in Operation Lava Jato, stated that the bribery scheme at Furnas began in 1994 and lasted until 2000 or 2001, but he doesn't know if it continued until the end of former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's term. He reported that the payments stopped in 2000 or 2001, but he doesn't know why. The money launderer also said he doesn't know if the former president had any involvement.

Youssef also said that he "heard" that former congressman José Janene (PP-PR), who died in 2010, "shared a directorship at Furnas with the PSDB," through then-federal congressman Aécio Neves. In the Lava Jato investigation, Janene was identified as the PP's operator at Petrobras.

Asked who the PSDB operative was, Youssef stated that he had heard, through Janene, that it was a sister of Aécio Neves, but that he had never had contact with them.

A copy of the testimony attributed to Youssef highlights the following: "That he believes that the PSDB's funds were also delivered in cash, but he doesn't know how much or where they were delivered; that he also doesn't know how the funds were divided between the Progressive Party and the PSDB; that the declarant had no contact with Aécio Neves' sister, and when shown a photo of Andrea Neves, says he cannot recognize her, as he has never had contact with her; that he also doesn't know any other information about her; that he has never had contact with Aécio Neves."

On March 6, after the Supreme Court's decision to dismiss Youssef's statements was released, Aécio Neves said he received the dismissal as "an honor." According to him, the government's "attempts" to involve the opposition in the investigation were fruitless.