BRAZIL: Attorney General Asks Supreme Court To Investigate President Temer

(RTTNews) - Brazilian Attorney General Raquel Dodge asked the Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin to add President Michel Temer to the list of people under investigation for a corruption scheme involving Odebrecht, the construction sector conglomerate tainted by several corruption charges in the last few years.

Claudio Melo Filho, a former Odebrecht executive, told investigators that in 2014 the company agreed to transfer R$ 10 million to PMDB, Temer's party, to gain an advantage in airport deals with the government.

Filho mentioned that Eliseu Padilha and Moreira Franco, both ministers and close allies from Temer, were responsible for the deal with the company. Both are already under investigation.

Temer, who chaired the PMDB at the time, was left out of the inquiry because he was the Brazilian president when Filho spoke to authorities and the previous attorney general, Rodrigo Janot, believed that he had constitutional immunity to investigations.

Dodge, however, said that the Constitution only prevents a formal indictment against the president, which could just happen after an inquiry.

"Criminal investigation, although it carries a high stigmatizing burden, is a means of collecting evidence that can disappear, of vestiges that can be extinguished with the action of time, of hearing witnesses who may die," said Dodge, quoted by Agência Brazil official news agency.