© Reuters FILE PHOTO: Brazil’s former justice minister Sergio Moro looks at the opening ceremony of deputy Luciano Bivar’s pre-candidacy in Brasília, Brazil, May 31, 2022.
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian election officials led Brazil’s biggest corruption probe on Saturday morning and executed a search and arrest warrant at the home of former justice minister and current Senate candidate Sergio Moro.
This is the first time Moro has made his name leading the massive “car wash” corruption probe that has led to the jailing of some of Brazil’s political and business elite, including current presidential front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The court order, obtained by Reuters, was in response to a request by lawyers for Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) that alleged misrepresentations in Moro’s campaign materials.
In a statement, Morrow’s attorneys confirmed the search warrant, but called PT’s request a “troublesome motive,” saying he had not committed any wrongdoing on his behalf.
“Today, the PT showed the “democracy” that it intends to establish in the country, by introducing a disgusting search in my residence and the sensationalism of publicizing the case,” Moro said on Twitter (NYSE: ) regarding the alleged wrongdoing. Font size on some selection materials.
“Nothing compares to the billions of reais looted during the PT and Lula regimes. They are not threatening me, but I do not accept the brutal attempt to defame me and threaten my family,” he said.
The 49-year-old Moro Bolsonaro has been accused of misconduct and was arrested in 2015. He entered politics in 2018 as justice minister at the start of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro’s government before resigning in 2020.
He failed to run for president in October of this year, but because he had little political capital, he decided to run for the Senate of the southern state of Paraná instead.
In the same ruling on Saturday, the Election Court ordered the removal of Moro’s videos published on YouTube that violate the standards set by the election laws.