Judge will rule on Lavo Jato trial call next month

Judge Baloisa Marquínez accepted the term allowed by the Law to decide whether to call the 32 people who are being investigated in the “Lava Jato” (Car wash) case to trial for alleged money laundering.

On Tuesday, March,the preliminary hearing in the Third Court for the Settlement of Criminal Cases ended with the arguments of the defense attorneys.

The Public Ministry, represented by prosecutors Isis Soto and Marcos Mosquera, is requesting the call to trial for the 32 linked. In addition, they requested dismissal for four of the defendants and provisional dismissal for two others.

The defense attorneys requested the definitive dismissal of their clients and the lifting of all precautionary measures.

The investigation began in 2014, based on reports linking the now-defunct law firm Mossack Fonseca with the alleged commission of the crime of money laundering, in relation to the so-called “Lava Jato” operation, in Brazil.

The then Brazilian judge Sergio Moro, a key player in the corruption investigations in Brazil, assured that there was evidence that the firm provided the necessary services for the opening of offshore companies for at least four agents involved in the money laundering scheme.