Crash kills judge in corruption case

SAO PAULO — Authorities on Friday were investigating a plane crash that killed the Supreme Court justice in charge of a major corruption case just weeks before he was scheduled to issue a ruling that could have revealed accusations against politicians in several Latin American countries.

The death of Justice Teori Zavascki in Thursday’s crash is likely to delay, though not derail, the “Car Wash” investigation, the largest corruption probe in Brazil’s history. Investigators allege inflated contracts with state oil giant Petrobras and other state-run companies to pay for bribes and election campaigns.

The small plane went down in heavy rains Thursday just off the coast of Paraty, a colonial town and popular vacation spot about 155 miles west of Rio de Janeiro.

Although the cause was unclear, many Brazilians voiced fears of foul play since Zavascki,68, held such an important role in the investigation, in which dozens of politicians and businessmen already have been jailed. Transparency International called for a full investigation into the crash.

While the “Car Wash” probe has been led by a team of prosecutors and Judge Sergio Moro in the southern city of Curitiba, Zavascki handled cases involving politicians. Under Brazilian law, only the Supreme Court can decide to charge or jail federal politicians.

Federal police and the public prosecutor have opened investigations into the crash, and the prosecutor’s office said Friday that it has asked aviation authorities for documents about the plane’s maintenance and recordings of conversations between the pilot and air traffic controllers.

Rescuers said Friday that they had recovered all five bodies from the crash. They include: Zavascki; pilot Osmar Rodrigues; businessman Carlos Alberto Filgueiras; Maira Lidiane Panas Helatczuk, a massage therapist who was treating Filgueiras; and Helatczuk’s mother, Maria Ilda Panas.