Moro steps down and accuses Bolsonaro of political meddling in police
Following successive frictions with President Jair Bolsonaro, the minister of Justice and Public Security, Sergio Moro, who joined the administration as the start judge who oversaw Operation Car Wash, decided to resign. The trigger was the dismissal of Maurício Valeixo from the post of director-general of the Federal Police.
The minister has tender his resignation letter. In it, he listed the reasons for his decision to leave the Bolsonaro administration.
During a speech Friday morning, Mr. Moro said that when he accepted the invitation to take the Ministry of Justice and Public Security he received carte blance from President Bolsonaro to conduct the ministry and said he always had concern of meddling of the executive branch in the Federal Police (PF). "In the end of 2018 I received the invitation of then-president-elect and it was promised to me carte blanche for all aides, including Federal Police and Federal Road Police," he said.
In the beginning of his speech, the minister lamented holding the press conference and, even though the auditorium was crowded of journalists, secretaries and servants of the ministry, said he tried to avoid agglomeration amid the pandemic. "I wanted to avoid this event, but it was not by my choice."
He also lamented the fact that on Thursday there were 407 deaths because of covid-19. Mr. Moro also made "general reflections" on the evolution of combat against corruption in the country "to explain my decisions."
Recalling the Car Wash years, which began in 2014, Mr. Moro said the operation "changed the level of fight against corruption. It was a work of judiciary, Prosecution Service and Federal Police," he said. He also said that during that period the PF had autonomy for its investigations. "The government at the time had countless defects, but it was crucial the maintenance of the PF autonomy. This made possible that the results were achieved," he said.
The minister also said he didn't condition his appointment as minister to a nomination for the Federal Supreme Court. "This would be taking a post thinking of another. I was criticized and understand the criticism. But my objective was to take more effectiveness to the fight against criminality," he said.
He said his only request to Mr. Bolsonaro was that, in case something happened to him while minister, his family had a pension, since he had relinquished his pension as judge, after 22 years of career.
The former Car Wash judge said that he had been under...
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