BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazil’s top prosecutor has asked the Supreme Court to open an investigation of President Dilma Rousseff for trying to obstruct a massive corruption probe involving state-run oil firm Petrobras, Globo News reported yesterday.
Rousseff, likely to be ousted from office later this month on unrelated charges of breaking budgetary laws, had previously avoided being dragged into the largest corruption investigation in Brazil’s history.
The request will be analyzed by Supreme Court justice Teori Zavascki and is not public because it is based on recorded phone calls between Rousseff and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that are secret, news site G1 reported.
The investigation of Rousseff and Lula could stain the legacy of more than a decade of Workers Party rule, overshadowing significant gains in reducing poverty in Latin America’s largest economy.