Whistleblower v. whistleblower in Senate’s Covid inquiry

The Brazilian Senate’s Covid hearings committee has often been compared to reality television. But if this were the case, viewers would have tuned out some time ago due to its overly-complicated plot — filled with forced twists and convoluted storylines.

Thursday’s session was a textbook example. Police officer and would-be pharmaceutical representative Luiz Paulo Dominguetti Pereira took the stand before the committee on Thursday with the task of clarifying corruption allegations within the Health Ministry.

Mr. Pereira told the press earlier this week that the ministry’s former logistics director had demanded a USD 1 bribe for each AstraZeneca vaccine dose to be purchased by the federal government. As Mr. Pereira offered 400 million doses, the potential bribe would reach the astronomical level of BRL 2 billion, perhaps the biggest of all time for a single deal.

Instead of clarifying anything, Mr. Pereira instead added confusion to the congressional investigation. After confirming that the deal was conditional to the bribe, the witness played an audio clip which brought another character into the mix. In the recording, right-wing Congressman Luis Miranda is heard negotiating something — it is unclear what — according to Mr. Pereira, he was discussing the purchase of...