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RIO DE JANEIRO, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot Tuesday asked the Supreme Federal Court (STF) to open 83 official inquiries against politicians accused of corruption.
The politicians were mentioned in the testimonies of 77 former executives of the construction company Odebrecht. The company was deeply involved in the major corruption scandal at state-run oil giant Petrobras and in numerous other corruption schemes in connection with governmental contracts.
The names of the politicians Janot requested to be investigated could not be disclosed, as so far the Odebrecht testimony and related investigations remain confidential. However, Janot required the court to lift the judicial secrecy on the case for the sake of transparency and the public interest.
The requirement was sent to the Supreme Court because, under Brazilian law, high-level politicians such as presidents, ministers, federal representatives and senators can be tried only in the Supreme Court.
Although the names of the politicians supposedly involved in the corruption schemes are still confidential, local TV station Globo said the list includes at least five ministers, six senators, several members of the previous federal administrations and ex-presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff.
According to Globo TV, even though Brazilian President Michel Temer has not been directly implicated in illicit party funding and has denied any wrongdoing in the corruption scandal, dozens of politicians reportedly named for taking kickbacks in the testimony by Odebrecht executives included senators in Temer's Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) and the allied Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB).
In addition, at least five ministers in Temer's government were in the crosshairs, including his recently appointed new foreign minister Aloysio Nunes, as well as the presidents of both houses of Congress.
Supreme Court Judge Edson Fachin will decide whether the court will take the cases and whether the confidentiality will be suspended. He is expected to start analyzing the several boxes of documents sent by Janot next week.
