{"id":44013,"date":"2020-10-08T08:24:03","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T08:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44013"},"modified":"2020-10-08T08:24:03","modified_gmt":"2020-10-08T08:24:03","slug":"brazils-bolsonaro-says-he-ended-car-wash-corruption-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44013","title":{"rendered":"Brazil\u2019s Bolsonaro says he ended \u2018Car Wash\u2019 corruption probe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Under the so-called \u2018Car Wash\u2019 operation, dozens of company executives and politicians were jailed, including left-wing ex-President Lula, for taking bribes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says he has ended the country\u2019s biggest-ever corruption probe, \u201cOperation Car Wash,\u201d as there is \u201cno more corruption in the government\u201d.<\/p>\n

Launched six years ago, the investigation has put some of the biggest names in politics and business behind bars, including left-wing former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who accused the judiciary of \u201cworking to criminalise the left\u201d after the Supreme Court ordered his release last November.<\/p>\n

Far-right President Bolsonaro said on Wednesday he was \u201cproud\u201d to end it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ended Car Wash because there is no more corruption in government,\u201d he stated at an event announcing measures to support civil aviation at the presidential palace in Brasilia.<\/p>\n

His comments were met with laughter and applause by dozens of executives and officials at the event.<\/p>\n

\u2018Aggressive tactics too far\u2019<\/h2>\n

Operation Car Wash, which last month was extended by the Brazilian attorney general until January 31, has upended Brazilian politics and business since it was launched as a money-laundering probe.<\/p>\n

Using an aggressive strategy of arrests and plea bargains, it has steadily pried the lid off a massive corruption scheme in which politicians and business executives plundered billions of dollars from state-run oil company Petrobras.<\/p>\n

Suspects\u2019 tell-all confessions in exchange for lighter sentences sent tremors around Latin America, as it emerged that a laundry list of powerful politicians had taken huge bribes from one of the main players in the scheme, construction company Odebrecht, in exchange for juicy public contracts.<\/p>\n

The operation\u2019s success in bringing once untouchable figures to justice made it popular in corruption-weary Brazil.<\/p>\n

But Brazil\u2018s biggest corruption investigation became increasingly bogged down by politics and controversy.<\/p>\n

Recently, critics have accused the task force of pushing its aggressive tactics too far, provoking twin political and economic crises and undermining suspects\u2019 right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.<\/p>\n

It also faces accusations of playing politics, particularly after leaked communications appeared to show investigators conspiring to keep Lula, a left-wing icon, from staging a come-back in Brazil\u2019s 2018 presidential race. Lula, who was the most popular candidate, was barred from contesting the elections that Bolsonaro won.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under the so-called \u2018Car Wash\u2019 operation, dozens of company executives and politicians were jailed, including left-wing ex-President Lula, for taking bribes.Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says he has ended the country\u2019s biggest-ever corruption probe, \u201cOperation Car Wash,\u201d as there is \u201cno more corruption in the government\u201d. Launched six years ago, the investigation has put some of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}