Jucá says that Moreira is not a problem in a government that is entirely embroiled in Lava Jato.

With the same frankness with which he revealed that the 2016 coup was carried out to stop the bleeding of Lava Jato, Senator Romero Jucá (PMDB-RR), the government's leader in Congress, now says there is no problem in having Moreira Franco as a minister, since the entire Michel Temer government is involved in Lava Jato; "Everyone will be mentioned in Lava Jato in some way, even more so when they want to give this general view that all campaign donations are irregular," said Jucá, trying to minimize criticism about the appointment of Temer's right-hand man, denounced by Odebrecht, as minister, which gives him the right to privileged jurisdiction; it is worth remembering that members of the government will not be denounced for campaign donations, but for corruption.

February 03, 2017, 18:08 PMUpdated July 04, 2018, 03:45 pm

With the same frankness with which he revealed that the 2016 coup was carried out to stop the bleeding of Lava Jato, Senator Romero Jucá (PMDB-RR), the government's leader in Congress, now says that there is no problem in having Moreira Franco as a minister, since the entire Michel Temer government is involved in Lava Jato; "Everyone will be mentioned in Lava Jato in some way, even more so when they want to give this general view that all campaign donations are irregular," said Jucá, trying to minimize criticism about the appointment of Temer's right-hand man, denounced by Odebrecht, as minister, which gives him the right to privileged jurisdiction; it is worth remembering that members of the government will not be denounced for campaign donations, but for corruption (Photo: Gisele Federicce)

247 - Frankly, the government leader in Congress, Senator Romero Jucá (PMDB-RR), once again used the same candor on Friday, the 3rd, that he displayed when he revealed, in a phone call, that the coup that removed Dilma Rousseff from the presidency of the Republic aimed to "stop the bleeding" of Lava Jato.

Jucá tried to downplay the criticism regarding the appointment of Moreira Franco to the position of Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, a post recreated by Temer, which gives the PMDB politician's right-hand man, implicated in the Lava Jato corruption scandal, the prerogative of privileged jurisdiction – meaning he would no longer have to answer to Judge Sérgio Moro, but would only have to provide explanations to the Supreme Federal Court.

"Everyone will be mentioned in Lava Jato in some way, even more so when they want to give this general view that all campaign donations are irregular," declared Jucá. It is worth remembering, however, that the members of the government will not be accused of campaign donations, but of corruption.

"I see no problem for Moreira, Padilha, or myself," the senator added, referring also to his own testimony and that of the Minister of the Civil House, Eliseu Padilha, both cited by Odebrecht. Earlier, Padilha also denied that the appointment was a shield for Moreira. The reason, according to him, is for Moreira to have more prestige abroad. Temer said that Moreira's appointment aimed to "structure" the Planalto Palace with a secretary-general and that "Moreira was always called minister, even though he was only executive secretary."

Moreira Franco also said that his rise to the position, and the consequent privileged jurisdiction he now enjoys, is not a way to shield him from the Lava Jato Operation investigations. "There is absolutely no attempt to resolve a political crisis, a political problem, because we are not experiencing a political crisis," he declared. He was denounced by Odebrecht for bribes in airport concessions.