Brazilian prosecutor seeks to jail senior politicians

Brazil's Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot has asked the Supreme Court (STF) to authorize the arrest of the Senate President Renan Calheiros and other senior politicians, Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported on Tuesday.

Besides Calheiros, Janot also called for the arrest former Brazilian President Jose Sarney (1985-1990), the suspended president of the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Cunha, and Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) President Romero Juca.

Janot's decision comes after the release of a recording in which some PMDB leaders can be heard discussing how to obstruct Operation Car Wash, a probe into the corruption scandal involving the state-controlled oil company Petrobras.

This recording was provided by Sergio Machado, a former president of Transpetro, a subsidiary of Petrobras.

In Machado's declarations to the judicial authorities, he admitted having paid 70 million reais (20 million U.S. dollars) to the PMDB leadership.

Janot's confession will now be analyzed by Justice Teori Zavascki, the STF's rapporteur on Operation Car Wash. In the case of Sarney, given his advanced age of 86, Janot said he should be placed under house arrest with an ankle monitor.

(APD)