Petrobras investigation judge regrets leaking Lula-Rousseff phone call

Brazil's Judge Sergio Moro, who is in charge of corruption investigation within Petrobras, said Wednesday that he had been wrong in releasing the clip of a phone conversation between President Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Moro wrote a letter to the Supreme Court, which was published by Brazilian media, saying that he had been wrong in releasing the audio file, although he vowed he had not done so out of political motives.

Moro, a judge from the federal court of Curitiba, has become a key figure in Brazil's politics lately, as his investigation in the country's multinational corporation in the petroleum industry has sought to press charges against Lula, and he has had the former president's phone tapped.

According to the judge, the recordings "could eventually" contain evidence of "obstruction to justice."

Federal police recorded, at Moro's behest, the phone conversations on March 16, the day after Rousseff named Lula the chief of staff in her cabinet. In the recording, Rousseff is heard telling Lula that she has sent him the official decree for his nomination to be used "if necessary."

Opposition figures and even one judge on the Supreme Court believe that this confirmed Rousseff had named Lula to protect him from a potential arrest.

Due to current investigations against Lula, the Supreme Court then temporarily suspended his nomination until it ruled on whether he could become chief of staff. Enditem