Toffoli annuls Lava Jato actions against Alberto Youssef and affirms that there was collusion between Moro and prosecutors.
The money launderer was one of the key figures in the investigation and the first whistleblower in the scheme that marked the beginning of the operation.
247 - Minister Dias Toffoli, of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), annulled on Tuesday (15) all acts carried out against the money launderer Alberto Youssef within the scope of the Lava Jato operation and the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba, at the time commanded by then judge Sergio Moro, informs Folha de S. Paulo. Youssef was one of the central figures in the investigation and the first whistleblower in the scheme that marked the beginning of the operation.
The decision, while preserving the validity of the plea bargain agreement signed by Youssef, represents another major setback for Lava Jato, pointing to irregularities in the conduct of the process. According to Toffoli, there was "collusion" between members of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the magistrate in charge, which, in the minister's view, compromised the impartiality of the process and violated due process of law.
"Having set the joint objective of securing the conviction of their targets, prosecutors and judges deliberately began to coordinate strategies and measures," Toffoli wrote in his decision. The minister also stated that Youssef's case is an example of "various arbitrary actions" committed by public officials during the course of Lava Jato.
Illegal wiretapping and bias
Among the elements supporting the annulment is a wiretap installed in 2014 in a cell at the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba, which illegally recorded approximately 260 hours of conversations between prisoners, including Youssef, former Petrobras director Paulo Roberto Costa, and money launderer Nelma Kodama. Although the Supreme Court has not yet ruled on its legality, Toffoli emphasized that the episode "clearly outlines the illegalities" committed against the money launderer.
The decision is also based on dialogues obtained by Operation Spoofing. The conversations revealed improper collaboration between the prosecution and the judge, a practice prohibited by the Constitution and the Code of Criminal Procedure.
"Under seemingly correct and necessary objectives, but without respect for factual truth, the magistrate and prosecutors in Curitiba disregarded due process, acted with bias, and outside their sphere of competence," wrote Toffoli.
