The beleaguered government of Brazil has been hit by further strife and protest marches.
A secretly recorded phone conversation could suggest that President Dilma Rousseff offered her predecessor, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, a ministerial government post in order for him to avoid prosecution on corruption charges.
The move comes amidst Brazil’s worst corruption scandal, the two-year investigation into fraud at the state-run oil company Petrobras.
The chief prosecutor, Judge Sergio Moro, released nearly 50 taped recordings on Wednesday to the media which in turn lead to frenzy in congress as opposition members clamoured for Rousseff’s resignation.
Tens of thousands of Brazilians across major cities gathered, making the same demand. Tear gas and stun grenades were used outside the presidential palace and Congress building.
Lula nevertheless was sworn in as a cabinet member on Thursday. Rousseff said Lula’s role would strengthen her government but many clearly suspect the deal is an attempt to protect Lula, who is being investigated for corruption and money laundering in the Petrobras scandal, from prosecution.
In the most damaging conversation, recorded on Wednesday afternoon, Rousseff tells Lula that she is sending him some papers “in case of necessity”. The Brazilian media and opposition have interpreted the remarks to mean that she was giving him ministerial papers quickly so that Lula could show them to police to avoid detention.
In an earlier conversation also released on Wednesday, Lula lambasted chief prosecutor Moro and went on to say: “We have a totally cowardly supreme court, a totally cowardly high court, a totally cowardly parliament … a speaker of the house who is fucked, a president of the senate who is fucked, I don’t know how many legislators under threat, and everyone thinking that some kind of miracle is going to happen.”
Alongside Lula and Rousseff, Brazil’s vice-president, speaker of the house, president of the senate and main opposition leader have all been accused of involvement in the Petrobras corruption scandal.
Notably, however, in that same conversation Lula also said “he would never enter government to protect myself”.
Prosecutor Moro said his decision to record the conversations and publish them was in the public interest.
“Democracy in a free society requires that the governed know what their governors are doing, even when they try to act in the dark,” he wrote.
