Moro in the Senate: “If there was any irregularity, I’ll step down”

Caught up in a whirlwind of leaked conversations and calls to step down, Justice Minister Sergio Moro sat in front of the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Senate on Wednesday afternoon to field questions regarding the revelations published by news website The Intercept over in recent weeks.

Amid repeated denials of wrongdoing and calling the veracity and legality of The Intercept‘s leaks into question, Sergio Moro gave little away, with the exception of one exchange with Workers’ Party senator Jaques Wagner.

The opposition senator asked whether Mr. Moro would leave his cabinet office if irregularities in his work on Operation Car Wash were to be found. In a rare occasion of directly answering a question put to him by senators, the Justice Minister confirmed that he would.

“I don’t have any attachment to the post in itself. If there is some irregularity on my behalf, I’ll leave,” he stated.

The hearing came one day after the latest wave of leaked instant messaging conversations between Mr. Moro and Deltan Dallagnol, the lead prosecutor in the Operation Car Wash task force. The most recent revelations showed the former judge questioning...