Without outcries or protests, the quiet and melancholic death of the operation which shook the Latin American political world took place in the empty halls of the Supreme Federal Court in Brasilia. A tumultuous relationship with President Bolsonaro and a proven collusion between judges and prosecutors accelerated its decline.
“Operação lava jato”, or operation Car Wash, was a task force from the Federal Brazilian Police which investigated billionaire corruption schemes involving Petrobras, the state oil company, several building contractors and politicians from inumerous parties. Established in 2014 with a focus on a money launderer operating from a petrol station in Brasilia (hence, the name) it grew to become the largest anti-corruption operation in the history of the country and the Latin American region as a whole, arresting major figures and exposing the systemic corruption imbued within the public and private sectors. Lava Jato is responsible for the arrest of politicians such as ex Brazilian President Lula da Silva, ex Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, Governor of Rio Sérgio Cabral, Speaker of the Lower House of Congress Eduardo Cunha, among several others. Even billionaires such as Marcelo Odebrecht and Eike Batista were not safe from the reach of operation Car Wash, embellishing the fact that for the first time, powerful individuals who considered themselves untouchable were subjected to trial and sentenced to imprisonment. For the first time, Brazilians could believe that everyone is equal before the law. In a region where power and resources equaled perpetual impunity, this was unprecedented.
The political winds have now shifted, and the momentum is all but gone, but their impressive track record goes to highlight the tremendous impact it has caused in the ongoing struggle against grand corruption. In total, 174 convictions were made and more than $5bn were returned to the public coffers. Yet, operation Car Wash´s ability to investigate was hindered just as it seemed to be placing the country on the right track. It ended up leaving a trail of legal abuses, collecting powerful enemies (the entire political party establishment which reacted against it) and lost the support of the Supreme Court Justices which it had at the beginning.
One of the main mistakes of the prosecutors of Curitiba was that, lulled by the initial triumphs, the popularity gained and the power that they held in their hands, they started to behave carelessly in regard to procedural standards. The crossing of legal lines left a huge flank vulnerable for appeals from several incarcerated individuals. Preventive arrests, which were employed mainly as an instrument of pressure for the acquisition of information on possible other perpetrators involved, and which were supported by the Courts, little by little were no longer allowed as defendants questioned the constitutional legalities of those pressure tactics. In addition, Judge Sergio Moro, the main judge presiding and the face of the anti-corruption movement, began to conduct investigations and communicate constantly with the prosecutors over trials which he himself would judge, hindering the impartiality required by law. Moreover, at the same time that operation Car Wash ended, Supreme Federal Judge Ricardo Lewandowski made public the tapes that had only been partially released by hackers, revealing dialogues between Moro and the prosecutors which explicitly demonstrate their collaboration. Further damaging not only the ethical perspective of bias and the “means to an end” argument, but also the legal one. Recently, a precedent to challenge all of Moro’s prior rulings was set as ex-President Lula managed to get his conviction annulled on the grounds of the partiality of Moro. as to add insult to injury, Moro became Bolsonaro's Minister of Justice shortly after his guilty verdict prevented Lula from running for President, evidently creating a conflict of interest.
It was mostly the devastating lack of faith in the major parties following the scandal, and the consequent wave of "anti-system” politics that have permitted little-known deputy Jair Bolsonaro to be elected to the presidency under anti-corruption, populist slogans. Ironically, it was up to Bolsonaro, the supposed anti-corruption champion, to be precisely the gravedigger of the operation as it began to hone over his deputy son, Flavio Bolsonaro. On February 1, when operation Car Wash officially ceased to exist, deputy Arthur Lira, on his way to becoming a defendant in two charges originating from the operation, was elected to command the Chamber of Deputies (the Lower House of Congress). Symbolically marking the clear return of the “status quo” in Brazilian politics which Bolsonaro once swore to denounce, and thwarting any significant gains accomplished during this unique time of upheaving. As of now, the pandemic and its subsequent economic recession have deviated the citizens attention, at least temporarily, from the long-term problem of political graft.
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