He’s got a little list

FOR months Rodrigo Janot, Brazil’s chief prosecutor (pictured), has had politicians biting their nails. He has been drawing up a list of congressmen, ministers and other federal officials whom he would like to see investigated in relation to a multi-billion-dollar bribery scheme unearthed last year at Petrobras, the state-controlled oil giant. On March 3rd Mr Janot filed the list with the Supreme Court, which must approve any investigation into anyone who enjoys parliamentary privilege. (He is expected to submit a similar list of governors to the Superior Court of Justice, which tries state functionaries.)

The “Janot list” contains 28 requests to open inquiries involving 54 people, identified in plea-bargain deals with former Petrobras executives and others. They are accused of running a corruption scheme in which construction companies that won contracts with some Petrobras divisions diverted 3% of their value into slush funds for political parties. The suspects’ identities are still officially secret; the Supreme Court justice in charge of the case, Teori Zavascki, is expected to disclose them on March 6th. He will also then decide which of Mr Janot’s requests to grant and which are based on flimsy evidence.