Supreme Court justice calls Car Wash a “mistake,” asks for investigation

In a turnaround from past positions, Supreme Court Justice José Antonio Dias Toffoli asked for the investigation of authorities who may have caused “very serious consequences” for Brazil and the people targeted by Operation Car Wash — the most extensive anti-corruption investigation in Brazil’s history.

According to Mr. Toffoli, the now discredited investigation “was a setup part of a power project by certain public agents with the goal of conquering the state by apparently legal means, but with illegal methods and actions.”

In his decision announced on Wednesday, Justice Toffoli also said that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s prison sentence was “one of the major judicial errors in the history of this country” and “the true serpent’s egg” of attacks on democracy and institutions — implying that it resulted in the rise to power of former President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies’ repeated attempts to overthrow Brazilian democracy. 

Judge Toffoli was ruling on a challenge filed by Lula’s legal team, who argued that decisions handed down by the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba, which was responsible for the Car Wash trials, went against the authority of the Supreme Court. 

The justice agreed that proof obtained through a leniency deal with Odebrecht (since renamed as Novonor), Brazil’s largest construction company, was “worthless” due to it having been obtained through “unorthodox and illegal” methods.

“They took lives, claiming them through tumors, strokes, and heart attacks, one of them in the middle of a hearing, among other physical and mental consequences [of the investigation],” Mr. Toffoli said, without specifying who he was referring to. 

Former first lady Marisa Letícia Lula da Silva, who was married to Lula for 30 years, died in 2017 from a stroke. At the time, Lula said that his second wife lost the will to live after being the target of search and seizure warrants and cited in investigations against Lula. 

Lula was imprisoned for 580 days between 2018 and 2019, having been sentenced for corruption and money laundering by Sergio Moro (a former judge who is now a senator representing the southern state of Paraná). In 2021, the Supreme Court quashed all of Lula’s convictions, on the understanding that the 13th Court of Curitiba did not have jurisdiction to try the case and that Mr. Moro was biased in his rulings of Car Wash trials.

This happened following the leak of messages exchanged on Telegram between Mr. Moro and Car Wash prosecutors. The conversations showed that Mr. Moro maintained a close relationship with the prosecutors on the case, orchestrating their next steps and mocking suspects.

Mr. Toffoli was appointed to the Supreme Court by Lula during his first stint in office — but the judge went on to vote on issues that were in stark opposition to Lula’s Workers’ Party. One of the most famous is when he annulled a decision that would have released Lula from jail in 2018. 

Since Lula’s return to power this year, Mr. Toffoli appears to be trying to mend fences with the leftist leader. 

Following the justice’s decision on Wednesday, Solicitor General Jorge Messias ordered the creation of a task force to investigate the involvement of public employees in Car Wash actions now deemed illegal. “Once the damage caused is recognized, the functional deviations will be investigated, all per the exact terms of what was decided by the Supreme Court,” he said.

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