Secret Friend (2022)

In June 2019, a few months after the beginning of the Bolsonaro government, the leak of messages exchanged by members of Operation Lava Jato, including former-judge-turned-Minister-of-Justice Sergio Moro, revealed the biggest judicial scandal in the history of the Brazilian New Republic. The conversations, originally from the Telegram app, were reported by journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept, in what became known as the "Vaza Jato" scandal (a word play with "Operation Car Wash" - Lava Jato, in Portuguese). The transcripts of the private chats would indicate that then judge Moro provided insider information to prosecutors, assisting the Federal Prosecutor's Office (MPF) in building cases, as well as directing the prosecution, requesting legal due diligences against relatives of witnesses, suggesting modifications in the phases of the investigation, and allowing phone tapping of lawyers. They also showed agility in new operations, informal exchange of investigation clues and manipulation of legal procedures, all aiming at expediting the conviction of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on corruption charges and blocking him from running in the 2018 Presidential election, eventually won by the extreme right candidate Bolsonaro. Starring Leandro Demori from The Intercept Brasil, Carla Jimenez, Regiane Oliveira and Marina Rossi from El País Brasil, "Amigo Secreto" shows how a poorly conducted major anti-corruption operation weakened Brazil's judicial system, ultimately threatening the country's democracy.