Supreme Court Justice Moraes Orders Use of Petrobras’ Fund to Fight Coronavirus

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled on Sunday, March 22nd, that the funds recovered from Petrobras under Operation Lava Jato be used to fight the novel coronavirus epidemic.

With the decision, the Ministry of Health will count on an additional R$1.6 billion for actions to tackle the epidemic in the country.

The so-called Petrobras fund includes funds that should be invested in Brazil as reparations for fraud in the state-owned company. Initially, it would be earmarked for education, but it has not been spent.

Moraes’ decision complied with a request from the Federal Prosecutor General (PGR). Before ordering the resources to be forwarded to the Ministry of Health, the Justice heard from representatives of Congress and the federal administration, which also agreed with the measure.

The resources recovered from Petrobras total R$2.6 billion and had already been divided in September last year, when Justice Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of an action on the allocation of the funds, validated the terms of an agreement on its allocation.

Under the agreement, the money was allocated to education, science and technology and to the Amazon states to fight deforestation and fires. However, so far not all funds have been committed.

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