Brazil’s attorney general has turned attention to President Michel Temer this week. The authority is determined to eradicate illegal business activity in his country as part of his anticorruption investigation. Therefore, he didn’t back away from charging powerful leaders. The agriculture minister was also brought in this legal fight due to allegations of justice obstruction.
Attorney General’s Anticorruption Investigation Sparked New Leads Thanks to Batista’s Testimony
On Thursday, Brazil President Michel Temer was charged with leading a criminal operation and justice obstruction as well. These are just additional allegations of corruption that legal officials opened against their political leader. Attorney general Rodrigo Janot included six other politicians that are active in Temer’s political party, PMDB.
Temer’s official statement claimed that these allegations are without grounds. On top of that, the online statement interpreted the blow Temer received as a way for Rodrigo Janot to cover his own mistakes. The President further hopes for the truth to come to surface so that he can return to more ardent businesses of his country.
On the other hand, Janot’s statement claimed that the charges are based on the testimony Joesley Batista gave in exchange for a bargain on his own sentence. The leader in charge of the world’s biggest meatpacker JBS SA turned himself to authorities on Sunday. This decision appeared after the company confirmed that it issued $150 million in bribes. These illegal funds headed to around 2,000 politicians over ten years.
The Government Decided the Abolition of Batista’s Plea Deal
As a consequence, attorney general got his hands on a phone conversation between Temer and Batista. This piece of evidence proved to be quintessential to his anticorruption investigation. The call took place last spring.
It consisted of Temer’s confirmation that he silenced former house speaker, Eduardo Cunha, with a generous financial gift. Cunha received additional charges after Batista’s testimony yet he now serves prison time for money laundering.
Nonetheless, Batista’s deposition might have been for nothing. While he was looking for a plea agreement in exchange for his confession against President Temer, things changed since last Sunday. He and his brother, Wesley Batista, received new charges in the meantime of insider trading which annulled the plea deal. Their lawyers considered this governmental decision as ‘unjust.’
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