The Intercept has released documents showing that prosecutors, and even the presiding judge, in the case against former president Lula da Silva conspired to railroad him and his party’s chances in the presidential election.

The Intercept published three exposés, Sunday, showing political motivation by members of a taskforce of prosecutors in charge of, and even the judge presiding over, one of the biggest corruption scandals in Brazil’s history. Known as ‘Operation Car Wash’, the scandal has implicated scores of politicians in Brazil and the wider Latin American region from across the political spectrum.



The most high profile conviction so far has been Brazil’s popular former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, widely known simply as “Lula.” Da Silva was elected president of the South American nation twice, in 2002 and 2006, by large margins and left office with approval ratings of over 80 percent. He was planning to run in the 2018 elections and was favorite to win before his campaign was railroaded by his court case and subsequent conviction in August of that year. With da Silva out of the race, a right-wing candidate Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain and member of the Brazilian parliament, defeated the relatively unknown former Sao Paulo mayor, Fernando Haddad, who ran as the replacement candidate for da Silva’s Workers’ Party (PT in its Portuguese initials). PT is a center-left social democratic party with a large base of support amongst the country’s poor and working class.

According to the Intercept, the leaked communications are made up of “private chats, audio recordings, videos, photos, court proceedings, and other documentation.” The Intercept’s co-founding editor Glenn Greenwald, along with reporters Leandro Demori and Betsy Reed, say that they demonstrate beyond doubt the flagrant political motivation of the case’s prosecutors and the then-presiding judge Sergio Moro. According to the authors, the documents show “serious wrongdoing, unethical behavior, and systematic deceit about which the public, both in Brazil and internationally, has the right to know.”

Most damning for the Bolsonaro government is the inclusion of Moro in some of the leaks, who the president appointed to a powerful position within his cabinet following his election victory – dubbed “a super justice minister” in the Brazilian press. The appointment was widely seen as confirming suspicions that Moro was far from politically neutral. His actions during the trial, such as tapping phones and intimidating defense attorneys, has been dubbed “lawfare,” with one UK-based human rights lawyer likening his behavior to the Catholic Inquisition. Moro consistently denied the allegations, instead presenting himself as a public servant engaged in a noble campaign against corruption.

But according to the Intercept, several of the documents show direct collusion between Moro and lead prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol. For example, shortly after Dallagnol initiated the corruption case against da Silva, he privately messaged Moro to discuss how they would conspire to present him as the “maximum leader” of Operation Car Wash. Dallagnol was open about the lack of material evidence against da Silva throughout the discussions and stressed the need for the trial to take place in the Curitiba province where Moro has jurisdiction.

Also of particular interest is the contents of a group chat held between the prosecutors and Moro on the cell phone app Telegram. In the chat, they discuss how they wish to damage the PT’s chances in the 2018 Brazilian presidential elections even after da Silva had been disqualified. For example, they spoke about how to use a court mechanism to block a newspaper from interviewing him from within prison.

After publication, the prosecutors issued a press release in which they did not deny the veracity of the leaks, but rather alleged that they had been illegally obtained. A statement made by Sergio Moro also did not directly contradict the claims but rather accused the publication of “sensationalism” and taking the information “out of context.” The articles also precipitated some vicious back-and-forth attacks between Greenwald and President Bolsonaro's son Eduardo. Bolsonaro posted a tweet attacking Greenwald as a “voice for Snowden” and “dumping” US classified information through Wikileaks. Greenwald responded by pointing out that Bolsonaro was simply using irrelevant “little attacks to distract” from the matter at hand.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! </s> Under the Brazilian judicial system, the judge and the prosecution are required to operate independently to ensure a fair trial. Yet Moro interfered directly on the case by dictating the prosecutors’ media strategy.

A new leaked conversation by The Intercept shows current Supreme Justice Minister Sergio Moro while serving as a judge in the Car Wash (Lava Jato), directed the prosecutors’ media strategy against former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

“The defense already put on their little show,” Moro quickly messaged a senior prosecutor in the Operation Car Wash task force, Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima, right after questioning Lula for more than five hours, bracing for media’s take on the hearing.

Under the Brazilian judicial system, the judge and the prosecution are required to operate independently to ensure a fair trial. Yet Moro interfered directly on the case by dictating the prosecutors’ media strategy.

“Maybe, tomorrow, you should prepare a press release explaining the contradictions between his testimony and the rest of the evidence or with his previous testimony,” he ordered Dos Santos.

Immediately the prosecutor messaged his media team suggesting a dramatic shift in the team’s typical communications strategy. Up until that point, they had not commented publicly on the trial proceedings. As the press aides advise against, the chief prosecutor of the Car Wash task force, Deltan Dallagnol, comes in to support the plan.

The next day all major Brazilian news outlet copied the exact statement pushing Moro’s agenda to the public about the alleged "contradictions" in Lula's answers.

Another leak revealed on Tuesday, Moro chats with Dallagnol trying to prevent the task force from investigating right-wing former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, while ignoring evidence that his foundation collected bribes from Odebrecht's subsidiary Braskem. The then-judge asks about the “seriousness” of investigations by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) regarding the former head of state, telling Dallagnol he doesn’t want to "spoil someone whose support is important."

All this comes as Brazil now is facing a political earthquake as The Intercept Brazil published on Sunday an extensive and hard-hitting exposé on the alleged political motivations behind Operation Car Wash against Lula, and unethical involvement of current Supreme Minister of Justice, Moro.

The documents were released in a three-part series where according to The Intercept, it is proven, based on leaked documents and Telegram messages between prosecutors and Moro that the “apolitical” and “unbiased” team spent hours internally plotting how to prevent the return to power by Lula and his party. As well as the lack of hard and documented evidence to establish a case against the former head of state. </s> Brazil’s supreme court has been dragged into the crisis that has called into question the behaviour of the former judge and federal prosecutors in charge of the country’s historic Car Wash anti-corruption investigation.

According to the latest leak by the Intercept website, lead Car Wash prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol apparently communicated with supreme court justice Luiz Fux during 2016 about the probe’s progress, with Mr Fux offering it his support. Mr Dallagnol related this offer in a conversation over a messaging app to then federal judge Sérgio Moro, who at the time oversaw Car Wash cases and is now the country’s justice minister.

The conversation with Mr Fux appears to refer to preserving the investigation from any attempt to undermine or end it by the new government installed following the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff in May 2016. Various ministers in the administration of her successor, Michel Temer, were determined to neuter the investigation which exposed the vast extent of corruption by Brazil’s political class.

Mr Moro responded: “Excellent. In Fux we trust.” The justice minister has not yet commented on the leak.

Added to the conversations between Mr Moro and Mr Dallagnol leaked at the weekend these latest revelations appear to provide further evidence of back-channel communication and possible collusion between Car Wash prosecutors and federal judges. Under Brazil’s legal system, judges are meant to be strictly impartial though jurists admit informal contacts between them and prosecutors are common.

Mr Moro and Mr Dallagnol have denied any wrongdoing and Car Wash supporters have sought instead to focus on the Intercept’s source. Police believe a number of judges and prosecutors were targeted by a wide-ranging hacking operation.

But critics of Car Wash, among them the defence of former former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, convicted in the first of nine corruption cases he faces by Mr Moro in 2017, say the leaks prove the investigation’s illegality and are demanding his release from jail.

What will President Bolsonaro do?

President Jair Bolsonaro has expressed his continuing support for his embattled justice minister, telling reporters on Thursday: “What he did has no price . . . He showed the viscera of power, the promiscuity of power operating through corruption.”

In the latest leak which was first revealed on Wednesday night Mr Dallagnol also relates how Mr Fux told him of an “arm wrestle” between his court colleague Teori Zavascki and then judge Moro which left the supreme court justice “burnt”.

This seems to refer to Mr Moro’s illegal release of a phone tap of a conversation between then-president Rousseff and Lula in March 2016.

The recording indicated that Ms Rousseff’s plan to appoint Lula as her cabinet chief was not about attempting to salvage her disintegrating administration, but to provide her predecessor with immunity from possible arrest by Mr Moro.

The release of the conversation caused a furore and squashed the effort to bring Lula into cabinet. Mr Zavascki reprimanded the junior judge over his handling of the recordings, but Mr Moro managed to hold on to the Car Wash investigation. </s> Four congressional commissions asked Sergio Moro to explain details from a scandal that is involving more people each time.

The Lower House summoned Justice Minister Sergio Moro to a hearing on June 26 to testify about The Intercept-leaked audios, in which he and Attorney General Deltan Dallagnol coordinated a joint action to prevent former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from running in the 2018 presidential elections.

"The minister is haunted by the Intercept revelations and even more so to come. He must, after all, be remembering much of everything he did," Marcio Jerry, a congressman from the Communist Party (PCdoB), said.

The Human Rights and Minority Commission (CDHM), the Labor, Administration and Public Service Committee (CTASP) and the Financial Control Committee (CFFC) decided to hold a single joint hearing at the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJC).

The information disclosed by The Intercept shows that the then acting federal judge Moro advised prosecutors in several phases of the "Car Wash" case, which was an illegal interference that led to a ban on Lula's candidacy to while remaining in prison and boosted Jair Bolsonaro's chances at winning the presidency.

"Moro was jeered by the crowd at the stadium but the media did not show it."

The Supreme Justice Court vice president Luiz Fux also came under fire Wednesday when new revelation showed that he was involved in the scandal, calling into question the fairness of the trial behind Lula's conviction.

The Intercept Brazil director Leandro Demory revealed Monday that Judge Fuxhad supported Dallagnol and Moro in their actions.

At a private conversation, Dallagnol says, "he said that we should count on him for what we need, once again," to which Moro replied, "Excellent. In Fux we trust".

According to The Intercept, Moro suggested that the prosecutors of Car Wash case change the order of the phases of the operation and other procedures that supposed to be prohibited by law.

The confidential information disclosed have caused a stir in Brazil and led the defense of Lula to reiterate that the leftist politician is a victim of political persecution, prompting them to demand that the trial against him should be declared void.​​​​​​​

In 2017, Moro handed out a sentence of to nine years and six months in prison to Lula for corruption, arguing that he had received a beach apartment in exchange for political favors to the Odebrecht construction multinational company.

"The head of the Car Wash case was no one else than Moro. Dallagnol was a fool. It's proven," Supreme Justice Gilmar Mendes said and added that Moro and Dallagnol committed a crime.

"Simulating a complaint is not just an ethical fault. That's a crime."

While the Brazilians could not get out of their astonishment at The Intercept leaks, Minister Moro and President Bolsonaro met at the Alvorada Palace Tuesday and were later seen together at a military ceremony and at a soccer game in Brasilia on Wednesday night.​​​​​​ in a show of solidarity.

When asked if Bolsonaro still trusts Moro, presidential spokesperson Otavio Rego Barros said that "all the ministers of President Jair Bolsonaro's administration have the confidence of the executive branch head."​​​​​​​ </s> A demonstrator carries a sign with the image of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reading '...

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil's justice minister and prosecutors collaborated to convict left-wing icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on corruption charges to prevent him from contesting the 2018 election, an investigative news outlet reported Sunday.Citing leaked documents, The Intercept website co-founded by Glenn Greenwald said an anonymous source had provided material, including private chats, audio recordings, videos and photos, that show "serious wrongdoing, unethical behavior, and systematic deceit."Among the explosive claims, The Intercept said prosecutors in a massive, yearslong anti-corruption probe known as "Car Wash" had expressed "serious doubts whether there was sufficient evidence to establish (former president) Lula's guilt."Justice Minister Sergio Moro was the anticorruption judge who handed Lula his first conviction in 2017, which prevented him from running in a presidential election he was widely expected to win.President Jair Bolsonaro , who said during his campaign that he hoped Lula would "rot in prison," later made Moro part of his cabinet.Greenwald, who was part of the team that first interviewed Edward Snowden in 2013, said on Twitter the leak was "one of the largest & most important in years."This is "just the very beginning of what we intend to reveal from this massive archive about him (Moro) & the prosecutors with whom he unethically worked," Greenwald tweeted.The documents could not be verified by AFP.The claims come at a bad time for Bolsonaro who is already facing mounting opposition less than six months into his term, as Latin America's biggest economy teeters on the edge of recession and his signature pension reform remains stuck in a hostile Congress.In response to The Intercept reports, Moro defended his actions as judge in the ongoing Car Wash probe and said the material obtained through the "criminal invasion of prosecutors' cell phones" had been "taken out of context.""Careful reading reveals that there is nothing there despite the sensational material," Moro said on Twitter.The Car Wash task force confirmed its investigators had been hacked, but said it did not know the extent of the breach.Lula, who led Brazil through a historic boom from 2003 to 2010, has denied all the corruption charges against him, arguing they were politically motivated to prevent him from competing in the elections.He is serving a reduced jail term of eight years and 10 months after being convicted of accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe for helping the OAS construction company get lucrative deals with state oil firm Petrobras.While behind bars, Lula's Workers' Party (PT) registered him as their presidential candidate in August 2018 -- two months before the election. An electoral court barred him two weeks later.A second conviction was handed down in February for which he was sentenced to almost 13 years.Fernando Haddad, the PT's election candidate who lost to Bolsonaro, said on Twitter "we could be facing the biggest institutional scandal in the history of the republic.""The truth will prevail" was posted on Lula's Twitter account above a link to The Intercept stories.Days before filing the indictment that put Lula in jail, group chats involving prosecutors in the case show chief prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol "expressed his increasing doubts over two key elements of the prosecution's case: whether the triplex was in fact Lula's and whether it had anything to do with Petrobras."The leaked material also shows "Car Wash prosecutors spoke openly of their desire to prevent the PT from winning the election and took steps to carry out that agenda," The Intercept said."Moro secretly and unethically collaborated with the Car Wash prosecutors to help design the case against Lula ... only for him to then pretend to be its neutral adjudicator." </s> Brazil has been rocked by allegations that a prominent judge repeatedly collaborated with prosecutors during high-profile corruption investigations – including the controversial case that imprisoned former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

According to the Intercept, Sérgio Moro gave prosecutors strategic advice, criticism and tips during the sprawling graft investigation known as Operation Car Wash that jailed hundreds of executives, politicians and middlemen.

Prosecutors also allegedly discussed strategies to block a newspaper’s attempts to interview Lula during last year’s election campaign, according to the Intercept, which published cellphone chats it said it had received from an anonymous source.

Opinion polls had indicated that Lula was likely to win the 2018 presidential poll until he was imprisoned and forced out of the race. His last-minute replacement, Fernando Haddad was beaten by the far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro – who then appointed Moro as justice minister.

Lula has been imprisoned since April 2018. He was handed a nine-year prison sentence in 2017 by Moro, who ruled that he received bribes from a construction company in the shape of a seaside apartment renovated for him.

On Sunday, the Intercept published excerpts from what it described as an “enormous trove” of group chats on the encrypted phone app Telegram, along with audio, video and other documentation.

Excerpts of conversations between prosecutors on the Telegram cellphone app appear to show Deltan Dallagnol, the lead prosecutor in the Car Wash investigation, expressing doubts over the strength of the case against Lula in September 2016, four days before filing the indictment.

“It is like stopping the other team from playing. It is like they decided to play the ball alone,” said Carlos Melo, a professor of political science at the São Paulo business school Insper. “A basic principle of law is that those who accuse do not judge.”

Other messages appeared to show that during the election campaign, prosecutors schemed against a decision by a supreme court judge to allow Brazil’s Folha de S Paulo newspaper to interview Lula in jail because it could help his Workers’ party’s electoral chances.

“The judge’s relationship with prosecutors is scandalous,” said the Intercept Brasil’s executive editor, Leandro Demori. “This is illegal under Brazilian law.”

In a statement on Sunday night, Moro said the disclosures “did not show any abnormality” and that they “ignored the giant corruption scheme revealed by Operation Car Wash”.

The minister also complained about the “criminal invasion” of prosecutors’ phones.

Damori declined to discuss how the site had obtained the material, other than to say that it came from an anonymous source. He said the archive was bigger than that revealed by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to the Rio-based journalist Glenn Greenwald – who later set up the Intercept and co-wrote Sunday’s articles.

President Bolsonaro has yet to comment but his son Carlos shared a tweet noting that Greenwald’s husband is congressman David Miranda from the leftist Socialism and Freedom party.

Prosecutors said in a statement they had been subject to a “criminal act” by a hacker which had compromised their safety with “the objective of impeding the continuity of the operation”. “Many conversations, without due context, can give way to misinterpretations,” they said. </s> The leaked messages show that Mr. Moro often overstepped his role as a judge — someone who is supposed to be impartial and free from bias — to act as a consigliere for the prosecution. He offered strategic advice to prosecutors: they should, for example, reverse the order of various phases of the investigation; think again about a particular motion they were planning to file; speed up certain processes; slow down many others. Mr. Moro passed on information about a potential new source to the prosecution; scolded prosecutors when they took too long to stage new raids; endorsed or disapproved of their tactics; and provided them with advance knowledge of his decisions.

The revelations have shed new light on Mr. Moro’s conviction of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in 2017. (In Brazil, jury trials are restricted for offenses against life, such as homicide and infanticide. In other criminal cases, the same judge who oversees the investigation is also the one who judges and sentences the accused.) The left-wing politician, who ruled the country from 2003 to 2010, is currently in jail, having been convicted on charges of corruption and money laundering. He was deemed ineligible to run for president precisely at a time when polls showed him to be the front-runner in the 2018 race. Mr. da Silva’s convenient detention cleared the way for the election of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro, who then — wait for it — gracefully appointed Mr. Moro as Brazil’s justice minister.

According to material published by the news site The Intercept Brasil, over the course of the investigation, Mr. Moro meddled in matters of press coverage and worried about how to get the public’s support for the prosecution. “What do you think of these crazy statements from the PT national board? Should we officially rebut?” he once asked federal prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol, referring to a statement by Mr. da Silva’s Workers’ Party in which the indictment was deemed a political persecution. Notice the use of the word “we” — as if Mr. Moro and Mr. Dallagnol are on the same team.

This is all, of course, highly immoral — if not downright illegal. It violates nothing less than the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says: “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.” Under Brazil’s Criminal Procedure Code, judges are supposed to be neutral arbiters and cannot give advice to any of the parties in a case. Mr. Moro also violated many provisions of the Brazilian Code of Judicial Ethics, particularly one that says the judge should maintain “an equivalent distance from the parties,” avoiding any kind of behavior that may reflect “favoritism, predisposition or preconception.”

When the leaks were first reported, the Car Wash task force and Mr. Moro did not dispute the authenticity of the material, arguing instead, per Mr. Moro, that the messages showed “no sign of any abnormality or providing directions as a magistrate.” He also expressed dismay at the “lack of indication of the source of the person responsible for the criminal invasion of the prosecutors’ cellphones” — even though The Intercept’s reasons for not disclosing its source are obvious. </s> The messages show that Dallagnol took on at least once the role of interlocutor between Moro and Fux, while the federal judge was acting in tune with the two.

A new leaked conversation between chief prosecutor of the Car Wash (Lava Jato) task force, Deltan Dallagnol and current Supreme Justice Minister, Sergio Moro, allegedly show that Supreme Federal Court (STF) judge Luiz Fux was also part of the scheme against former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The leak was made by The Intercept Brazil’s executive editor, Leandro Demori, during an interview on Wednesday. The messages show that Dallagnol took on at least once the role of interlocutor between Moro and Fux, while the federal judge was acting in tune with the two.

"Fux told us to count on him for whatever we need one more time, and he just needed to call me to go to his house," Dallagnol wrote in the Car Wash Telegram chat group. Then copied the same message, according to The Intercept, and forward it to Moro, who replied, "Excellent, in Fux we trust."

Fux is responsible for the ruling that prevented former president Lula from giving interviews, as well as denying the habeas corpus to the Workers’ Party (PT) when the defense appealed to the Supreme Court.

All this comes as Brazil now is facing a political earthquake as The Intercept Brazil published on Sunday an extensive and hard-hitting exposé on the alleged political motivations behind Operation Car Wash against Lula, and unethical involvement of current Supreme Minister of Justice, Moro.

The documents were released in a three-part series where according to The Intercept, it is proven, based on leaked documents and Telegram messages between prosecutors and Moro that the “apolitical” and “unbiased” team spent hours internally plotting how to prevent the return to power by Lula and his party. As well as the lack of hard and documented evidence to establish a case against the former head of state. </s> Former judge argues messages leaked by investigative journalists are illegal and should not be taken into account.

Brazil's Justice and Public Security Minister Sergio Moro testified Wednesday in front of the Senate in Brasilia to try to discredit information revealed by The Intercept that shows the former federal judge advised prosecutors and illegally interfered in the case against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

"Obviously I have nothing to hide. The idea was to come here to clarify about sensationalism being created about this news," Moro said at the beginning of his appearance before the Senate Wednesday morning. Moro did not categorically deny authenticity of the information leaked to The Intercept, but argued it could have been altered.

On June 9, The Intercept disclosed private telegram conversations between Judge Moro and Deltan Dallagnol, the main state prosecutor of the Car Wash corruption scandal showing that the two colluded to convict Lula on bribery charges. Moro later had the Workers' Party leader thrown in jail without due process in April 2018.

The evidence against Moro, released in a three-part series by The Intercept, showed Moro went to great lengths to prevent imprison Lula and prevent him from running in the 2018 presidential elections.

“Over the course of more than two years, Moro suggested to the prosecutor that his team change the sequence of who they would investigate; insisted on less downtime between raids; gave strategic advice and informal tips; provided the prosecutors with advance knowledge of his decisions; offered constructive criticism of prosecutorial filings; and even scolded Dallagnol ... as if the prosecutor worked for the judge,” the report reads of Moro who presided over the Lula's case and the far-reaching Car Wash corruption case.



During the Senate's Constitution and Justice Commission hearing, Minister Moro said that even if the telegram messages were true, they didn't indicate he had violated any laws.

"They try to create a situation of scandal, which is nonexistent in the end," declared the Justice Minister, who was appointed to the newly-created, high-power position by President Jair Bolsonaro when he entered office in January.

Moro tried to convince senators that what is really important is the "criminal invasion" of his and other authorities' cell phones with the aim to end the Car Wash investigation and weaken Brazilian institutions.

According to him, the investigative journalists' information should not be taken into account because it comes from an "organized criminal group" that might involve foreign agents.

Moro made similiar claims during Tuesday press conference when PT Senator Humberto Costa told him that he was not a victim of media sensationalism and asked him to resign because "you stripped the vote from millions of Brazilians."

The PT lawmaker said the judicial minister, while presiding over Lula's case in 2018, "changed prosecutors, directed operations, selected who should be persecuted, and broke laws and ethics codes."
Several text and audio messages between Brazilian judge Sérgio Moro and lead prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol are leaked, casting doubt over the trial of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on the grounds of illegal collaboration between court and prosecution. The leaks also point to interference in the 2018 elections by Operation Car Wash's task force officials.