|
BRASILIA, Sept. 13-- Brazil's Supreme Court (STF) on Wednesday dismissed President Michel Temer's accusations against prosecutor-general Rodrigo Janot. The full STF followed the vote by Edson Fachin, the court's rapporteur on Operation Lava Jato (Car Wash), a sweeping investigation into the Petrobras corruption ring. During the vote on Wednesday afternoon, Fachin said that there was no evidence Janot had acted in a biased way or with "enmity" toward Temer, when he charged the president on grounds of corruption. Fachin said that Janot's statements to the press about the case, which formed the basis for the objection by Temer's lawyers, were not suspicious. Temer's defense team pointed to a press conference where Janot was quoted as saying "where there is bamboo, there will be arrows", a Brazilian expression meaning "no smoke without fire", and interpreted as Janot stating his belief in Temer's guilt. When addressing the STF, Temer's lawyer, Antonio Claudio Mariz, pointed to the recent arrest of Joesley and Wesley Batista, entrepreneurs who turned over evidence to Janot about Temer before seemingly illegally using their knowledge of the upcoming scandal to sell off shares in their firm. Mariz said that this situation showed Janot had not taken due care during his investigation. Evidence by the Batista brothers, including a recording in which Temer could seemingly be heard approving bribing public officials, were key to the corruption charges brought against the president by Janot. These were later dismissed by the Chamber of Deputies. | 
