SAO PAULO – Brazilian Justice Minister Sergio Moro and federal prosecutors scrambled to respond yesterday to reports published by news website The Intercept based on what it said were leaked messages from a corruption probe.

The Intercept said it was only beginning to report on an “enormous trove” of leaked messages between Moro and prosecutors on Telegram, an encrypted messaging platform, that it had received from an anonymous source. It said the messages raise serious questions about the impartiality of Moro, a former judge who sent ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to prison.

The excerpts, released on Sunday, included exchanges in which Moro made suggestions to prosecutors about the focus, pace and sequence of investigations. Attorneys for Lula, a leftist icon who remains one of the most influential opposition figures in Brazil, have been petitioning the Supreme Court for his release and seized on the reports to argue that his sentence should be overturned. Moro, speaking at an event in Brasilia on Monday, argued that the messages published so far showed no improper conduct on his part.(Reuters)…[+]