Presidential pardons spark legal storm in Brazil

BRASILIA - Brazil’s top prosecutor has launched a legal challenge against pardons granted by President Michel Temer just before Christmas, saying they are unconstitutional and threaten a probe into the country’s largest-ever corruption scandal.

The pardons traditionally granted by the Brazilian president around Christmas are applied to criminals meeting certain conditions, including having already served part of their sentence.

But Temer drew sharp criticism from public prosecutors and on social media last week by making the rules more generous and extending them to include people convicted of corruptionrelated crimes.

Prosecutor General Raquel Dodge said in a statement that she is requesting an injunction to stop parts of the December 21 presidential decree from going into effect.

“The head of the executive branch does not have unlimited power to grant a pardon. In the republic, no power is unlimited,” the statement said, quoting from the legal filings.

Dodge said the pardon undermines the separation of powers and would grant impunity to those guilty of graft in the corruption scandal.

The nearly four-year investigation into the scandal is known as Operation Car Wash and has sparked several other major probes. Under Car Wash, dozens of powerful businessmen and politicians have been jailed for political kickbacks, usually involving private enterprises paying billions in bribes to win contracts with state-run companies, such as the oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro.

A spokeswoman for Temer directed questions to the Justice Ministry.