“, let me tell you something. Next. I’m sending Bessias along with the paper so we can have it, and only use it if necessary, which is the term of possession.”
The then president’s speech in an intercepted phone call entered the history of national politics exactly ten years ago, and doubts about the episode persist to this day.
The dialogue was interpreted at the time as an attempt to protect the current president from Lava Jato investigations, which were advancing quickly. Lula had been searched in his apartment days before, in addition to being taken to testify by federal police officers. The operation investigated the PT member’s links with contractors such as OAS.
On March 16, 2016, the day of the phone call, Lula had belonged to Dilma. The thesis of the operation authorities was that the conversation showed a maneuver by the then president to grant special forum to the ally and, therefore, shield him from investigations.
due to the decision of the then judge to remove the secrecy of the interception, under the justification of “public interest” and the principle of publicity of the processes. To further inflame tempers, the recording had been made after the inquiry’s telephone recordings had been ordered to stop, hours earlier.
The revelation of the conversation set the country on fire. Protests erupted in the streets, and the opposition interrupted the Congress session shouting “resignation”.
That same week, Dilma had been the target of gigantic demonstrations. The crisis generated by the revelation of the audio had such a political impact that it could be considered the last straw for impeachment, which was already being processed in the Legislature.
The Chamber would vote to open the process a month later, and the Senate sealed the removal on May 12th.
Dilma reacted in an indignant tone, denying having committed any irregularity. He said it was something bureaucratic and that the “necessity” referred to the possibility that the ally would not be able to attend due to the illness of former first lady Marisa Letícia.
However, there was doubt as to why an extra edition of the Official Gazette, with the nomination, was published that afternoon, as the inauguration was initially scheduled for six days from now. And if there was another reason why Bessias — the current Minister of the Attorney General of the Union — would need to hurriedly deliver the document by hand.
The release of the audios marked a turning point in Sergio Moro’s role in Lava Jato. The operation lasted two years, and until then the magistrate tried to maintain an appearance of discretion in conducting the investigation into Petrobras.
He did not grant any interviews and did not have a profile on a social network, although he sent public messages in dispatches and did not dispense with invitations, for example, to receive tributes.
In the audio episode, a strategic side under a political background was revealed. “Democracy in a free society requires that those governed know what the rulers do, even when they seek to act protected by the shadows,” he said in a dispatch.
If his objective was to cause embarrassment to PT leaders, his intention was achieved. Two days later, the minister of the (Federal Supreme Court) Gilmar Mendes issued a decision preventing Lula from taking over Dilma’s Civil House, under the argument of “misappropriation of purpose”.
It was the failure of one of the last attempts to save the president’s shaky mandate, with Lula’s rise to the position of articulator and protagonist of the administration.
Years later, the episode of the release of Moro’s audios when conducting Lula’s cases in Curitiba, carried out in 2021.
The same Gilmar Mendes, who became the most acidic critic of Lava Jato, considered Moro’s role in releasing the audios as a show of “political inclination”, which was followed by (who would later become Lula’s Minister of Justice) and by Cármen Lúcia. Another six Lava Jato incidents were also taken into account in the Supreme Court’s decision.
Still in March 2016, the STF minister scolded the judge, stating that, as a judge of first instance, he did not have the legal competence to decide on a situation involving the President of the Republic. The audios were invalidated for use in court.
shed light on the circumstances that led to the files being released. The members in those days, before the appointment and the recorded conversation, lifted the confidentiality of the investigation into Lula.
Even before the phone call, , at the time head of the Public Ministry’s task force, reached out to Moro by message: “The decision to open is maintained despite the appointment, can you confirm?”. The magistrate replied: “What is the MPF’s position?” The answer was: “Open.”
Other calls from the current president were also publicized at the time, with interlocutors such as the mayor of Rio, (currently in the PSD), and current senator Jaques Wagner (PT).
Mass Sheet showed at the time that a series of other conversations by Lula had also been intercepted without the content being made public, unlike what happened with the so-called “Bessias audio”.
In one of the recorded but hidden conversations, Lula speaks to the then vice-president about the government’s coordination and says that they should act as “brothers in faith”.
The tone of the hidden dialogues, showing that the PT member was reluctant to accept the position of minister, without making direct mention of escaping Lava Jato, weakened Moro’s thesis that the PT leaders’ objective with the appointment was to halt the investigations.
To this day, it is not known what the criteria was for removing the confidentiality of some of the phone calls and not others. Moro and the Public Ministry said that the selection of dialogues was the responsibility of the .
