CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) – The lead federal prosecutor in a massive corruption investigation roiling Brazil says that recent developments could double the size of the case, a staggering possibility given that the probe has ensnared many of the country’s elite, threatens to bring down President Michel Temer and is expanding to other Latin American countries.
Nearly three years after the first arrests in March 2014, the so-called Car Wash investigation has no end in sight, said Deltan Dallagnol, coordinator of the task force in the state of Parana, where the operations began and are still largely centered under the jurisdiction of Judge Sergio Moro.
“I would say that the new plea agreements could allow the Car Wash operation to double its size in the future,” Dallagnol told The Associated Press on Thursday, declining to go into detail because the cases were ongoing.
What started as an investigation into money-laundering has morphed into a corruption scandal so large that it has shocked Brazilians long accustomed to graft in politics. Investigators say more than $2 billion in bribes were paid out in a kickback scheme that was centered at state oil company Petrobras and included major construction companies like Odebrecht. In the last few years, dozens of politicians and top businessmen have been convicted and jailed, and many more are facing charges.
In a wide-ranging interview, Dallagnol said the investigation “lives at risk” because of forces trying to snuff it out. He said the pressures were increasing as the number “of powerful people caught up in it grows by the day.”