MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The country’s top prosecutor requested to stay parts of the annual pardon by Michel Temer on suspicion it violated the constitution after the president relaxed requirements to include people convicted of corruption.
"Pardon is not and cannot be an instrument of impunity," she said in a statement, adding suspended acts "are not in line with the constitutional purpose of pardon, therefore, they have no valid legal basis."
Brazil has been mired in a corruption scandal involving its state oil company Petrobras, which has been found to have paid bribes to officials to be awarded awarded overblown contracts. In October, the Brazilian parliament voted against a graft probe into President Temer who was accused by the chief prosecutor of having run a criminal ring with links to Petrobras.
Brazilian police have brought criminal charges against more than 250 suspects, since launching the "Operation Car Wash" investigation into corruption at Petrobras in 2014.
