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Brazilian Supreme Court accepts leaked phone recordings as testimony

Xinhua, May 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

Supreme Court (STF) Justice Teori Zavascki on Wednesday accepted as testimony the leaked phone conversations between former president of Transpetro Sergio Machado and senior politicians on how to obstruct the Petrobras corruption investigation.

This means Machado's statements could be used to open new investigations into Operation Lava Jato, the investigation into a corruption ring within Petrobras.

The recording was released on Monday, in which the former chief of Transpetro, a Petrobras subsidiary, was heard discussing the investigation with Romero Juca, who stepped aside from the position of Minister of Planning after the leak.

Juca can be heard talking about a political alliance to bring down suspended President Dilma Rousseff and "stop the bloodshed" caused by Lava Jato, which has seen dozens of politicians and businessmen arrested and jailed.

This case is being seen as a political crisis faced by the interim government of Michel Temer, which took power on May 12.

Machado has been interrogated in the past by Lava Jato investigators and was reportedly collaborating with them. He led Transpetro for over ten years but stepped down when he became embroiled in the Lava Jato investigation. Enditem