RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol planned to become a millionaire at the expense of the prestige attained by the Lava Jato operation.
This is what emerges from a new Vaza Jato chapter, in a partnership between the Intercept and Folha de S.Paulo.
In a chat on the subject held in late 2018, Dallagnol and a colleague from Lava Jato discussed the establishment of a company in which they would not formally appear as partners, to avoid legal questioning and criticism. The motivation for the project was outlined by Dallagnol in a conversation with his wife: “Let’s organize congresses and events and profit, ok? It’s a good way to make the most of our networking and exposure,” he wrote, notes the report by Flavio Ferreira, Leandro Demori, and Amanda Audi.
The prosecutors further devised a strategy to establish an institute and secure high fees: “If we did something non-profit and paid ourselves high fees for lectures, we would escape criticism, but we would need to consider how much we would lose in monetary terms,” said Deltan Dallagnol in the group with the member of the task force.
Partnerships with a graduation organizing company and two other event companies were also discussed in this conversation. The law bans prosecutors from managing companies and allows these officials to only be partners or shareholders of companies,” the text further notes.
Left-leaning Folha de S.Paulo provocatively sums up the latest coverings as follows: “Dallagnol’s manipulations led to the arrest of former President Lula without evidence, defrauded Brazilian democracy, allowed the rise of a neo-fascist government, broke the engineering sector and rendered millions of Brazilians jobless.”
If the recent allegations prove true, things look far from good for the Lava Jato chief prosecutor. One could accuse him not only that his machinations had deprived Lula of the presidency, but on top of that, that he also wanted to enrich himself personally. But is the so innocent looking prosecutor a wolf in sheep’s clothing with an angel’s face? To be continued.