Federal Police agent who issued arrest warrant for Rousseff is a subordinate and close ally of disgraced Justice Minister Sérgio Moro. The move was blocked by the Attorney General’s Office and the Supreme Court.
On November 5, Brazilian federal police agent Guidali Amaral, a close ally of the corrupt former judge and current Justice Minister Sérgio Moro (who illegally colluded with prosecutors to remove Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from last year’s presidential election in order to help his current boss, Jair Bolsonaro, win the presidency) issued preemptive, temporary arrest warrents for Dilma Rousseff, former Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega, and several politicians affiliated with the MDB party. Although the justification for the arrest warrants is claimed to be a “R$40 million corruption scandal”, former President Rousseff has not been formally accused of any crime and was initially asked to testify as a witness before the Federal Police, which is controlled by Justice Minister Moro, reversed its request and attempted to arrest her.
In August, Guidali Amaral attempted to file criminal charges against House Speaker Rodrigo Maia, after he refused to support Sérgio Moro’s draconian crime bill which, among other measures, would extend Brazil’s extremely violent military police the right to kill anyone who scares them.
After the Attorney General’s Office announced that there wasn’t enough evidence to justify any arrests, the warrants were blocked by Supreme Court Minister Edson Fachin. Minster Fachin also barred the federal police from leaking any more information about the case to the media.
Media leaks about ongoing investigations is one of the key tactics of lawfare, which was used by Sérgio Moro and the US DOJ-backed Lava Jato task force to commit character assassination against former President Lula during the lead up to his political imprisonment last year. Leaked social media conversations revealed by the Intercept and Brazilian partner media organizations show that, hours before the final trial, prosecutors admited they had no evidence that the former President had committed any crime.
After Minister Fachin blocked the arrest attempts, Dilma Rousseff’s advisers issued a public statement saying:
“It is appalling to hear that the Federal Police have called for the arrest of former President Dilma Rousseff in a case in which she is not under investigation and has never been asked to provide any testimony [… ] It also reveals a reckless effort by Justice Minister Sergio Moro to pursue political adversaries. Above all, it clearly illustrates abuse of authority.”
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