Judge Who Arrested Ex-President Lula da Silva May Soon Face Him in Brazil’s 2022 Presidential Elections
Sergio Moro hears testimony in the Criminal Procedure Code reform committee in 2017 (Wikimedia Commons).
Sergio Moro, the former Brazilian Minister of Justice who stepped into the spotlight after spearheading the Operation Car Wash corruption investigation that jailed members of the country’s elite, made his political debut when he joined the Podemos party on December 18. The announcement came little less than a year before the 2022 presidential elections next October and holds the potential to shake up the country’s current political landscape. Although Moro has yet to officially declare himself as a candidate, Podemos introduced him as “the future president of the republic” at a gathering in Brasilia.
Moro gained national notoriety as the judge at the helm of the “Operacão Lava Jato,” or Operation Car Wash, a corruption investigation that investigated a corruption and money laundering scheme involving Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras. Among the major Brazilian figures arrested in the scandal was ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Da Silva, who was released from jail in 2019, stated he “wouldn’t hesitate” to run for president in Brazil’s 2022 elections.
“I dreamed that the political system would correct itself after Operation Car Wash, that corruption would be a thing of the past, and that the population’s best interests would come first. This did not happen,” said Moro.
Moro became the Minister of Justice in the government of incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in November 2018. Although the decision was hailed by Brazilians who demanded a crackdown on corruption, Moro also raised suspicions of political bias as his conviction order forced the poll-leading leftist out of the presidential race.
Moro’s partnership with Bolsonaro quickly worsened after the ex-minister alleged that Bolsonaro had tried, on numerous occasions, to interfere with federal probes and illegally obtained police reports of sealed investigations into members of his personal entourage.
In recent months, however, the ex-minister has faced a series of blows that have damaged his reputation. Moro’s most recent embarrassment came at the hands of the Brazilian supreme court, where a majority of justices deemed his trial of former President da Silva as politically biased. This judgment quickly tarnished Moro’s public image for many Brazilians on either end of the political spectrum. To some voters, this serves as a testament to da Silva’s innocence. Others, who still believe da Silva was implicated in corruption, now view both parties as tainted.
Preceding the supreme court ruling, Moro left his home country for the United States. There he joined the international consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal in November 2020, but he was demoted from the position of Partner Director last April due to an apparent conflict of interest from his prior time spent in public service.
Moro closed his speech at the Podemos rally by explaining his reentry into Brazil and its political system. He claimed progress in Brazil has been stagnant, with people in politics neglecting to improve its corrupt system.
His entry to politics may come as an alternative to the left-right polarization in the upcoming 2022 Brazilian presidential elections. In a study conducted by Datafolha earlier this month, the ex-minister had 10 percent of intended votes against both da Silva and Bolsonaro.
As explained by Mauro Paulino, the director of Datafolha, Moro serves as a “nor nor” candidate, for voters who want neither da Silva nor Bolsonaro as president.
However, winning the presidency is only possible for Moro if he beats either of the current favorites—da Silva holding 43 percent of votes and Bolsonaro holding 33 percent—in the first round of elections, to secure a place in Brazil’s second-round runoff elections.