A judge on Brazil’s supreme court has ordered an investigation into Transparency International, days after the Berlin-based corruption watchdog criticised the country’s faltering anti-graft efforts and resurging sense of impunity.
The move is the latest by Justice Dias Toffoli, who in recent months has sought to unwind the legacy of Brazil’s long-running Lava Jato, or Car Wash, anti-corruption investigation, a seven-year-long operation that exposed a culture of bribery.
Last week, Toffoli — a former lawyer for the ruling Workers’ party — suspended a multimillion-dollar fine imposed on construction group Novonor, formerly known as Odebrecht, for its role in the bribery scandal.
Starting in 2014, the Car Wash probe revealed a vast kickbacks-for-contracts scheme involving executives at state-controlled energy group Petrobras, a cartel of construction companies and dozens of lawmakers from across the political spectrum.
The US Treasury department called it the largest foreign bribery case in history. Billions of dollars were eventually recovered and sentences totalling more than 2,200 years were handed down to 165 prominent Brazilians, although only a fraction of those years were served.
Some outcomes from the investigation, however, have been unwound since 2019 following revelations that the presiding judge in the investigation, Sergio Moro, had colluded with prosecutors.
The supreme court also judged that Moro was biased in his 2017 prosecution of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the leftwing leader who last year returned to the presidency for a third term.
In addition to the suspension of the Novonor fine, Toffoli last year nullified vast amounts of evidence obtained from the construction company as part of plea deals struck with prosecutors during the Car Wash probe.
He also suspended a $2bn fine imposed on the holding company of the two brothers who control meatpacking giant JBS. They had also signed a leniency deal under the anti-graft investigation.
The moves raised concerns among anti-corruption campaigners, including Transparency International, which dropped Brazil by 10 positions in its annual Corruption Perceptions index. The Latin American nation was ranked 104 out of 180 countries.
In its report last week, the watchdog highlighted the actions of Toffoli as well as the appointment last year of Cristiano Zanin — Lula’s personal lawyer during the Car Wash investigation — to the supreme court.
Campaigners have also criticised Lula’s recent appointment of Ricardo Lewandowski as justice minister. While previously serving on the supreme court, Lewandowski was staunchly opposed to the Car Wash operation and had terminated three criminal cases facing the leftwing leader.
“Thanks to Toffoli’s decisions, Brazil has become a cemetery for evidence of crimes that generated misery, violence and human suffering in more than a dozen countries in Latin America and Africa,” the non-profit group said. “The country is increasingly becoming, in the eyes of the world, an example of corruption and impunity.”
Toffoli on Monday ordered an investigation of Transparency International over accusations that it misappropriated public resources during the Car Wash probe.
The judge highlighted that the group was foreign and said any funds received for its anti-corruption work should have been allocated to the national treasury.
Transparency denied any wrongdoing, saying “hostile reactions to Transparency International’s anti-corruption work are increasingly serious and common in many parts of the world”.
It added: “Attacks on critical voices in society, which denounce the corruption and impunity of powerful people, cannot be normalised.”
Eduardo Ribeiro, president of the rightwing Novo party, also criticised the move. “Not satisfied with suspending the billion-dollar fines of companies that confessed their crimes, Toffoli has now ordered an investigation of Transparency International, precisely the NGO that has been warning about these absurd decisions,” he said. “Is this a dictatorship or not?”
