BRAZIL
Magical Thinking
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ended the country’s long-running corruption probe known as Operation Car Wash, saying there is no more corruption within the government, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
The far-right president said he was “proud” to end the country’s largest corruption investigation which has led to the jailing of numerous political and business leaders since its inception in 2014. Those imprisoned include Bolsonaro’s rival, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as well as multiple chief executives of construction companies, who were sentenced for taking part in a large bribery scheme that diverted billions of dollars from public coffers.
Following the announcement, Bolsonaro’s former Justice Minister Sergio Moro, who had overseen the probe as a lead judge before joining the government in 2019, countered that official corruption was still alive and well in Brazil and attempts to end the probe “represent the return of corruption.”
Despite its track record, critics have accused the probe’s overseers of playing politics. Meanwhile, the government has been slowly dismantling the probe.
Meanwhile, the federal police has been carrying out a number of investigations with potential to implicate Bolsonaro’s sons.
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