Moro calls Petrobras retarded and talks about privatizing all state-owned companies

The presidential candidate Sergio Moro (Podemos) classified Petrobras as a backward company and said that, if elected, he could privatize all state-owned companies, including the oil company and public banks.

The statement was given at a lecture for businessmen in São José do Rio Preto (415 km from São Paulo), where the former judge began his pre-campaign to Planalto in the interior of São Paulo, stronghold of his potential adversary and governor of the state. João Doria (PSDB).

“Petrobras played an important role for the country, but it is a backward company, which still lives off oil exploration, a fuel that the rest of the world is no longer using. Today we are discussing other forms of clean, more environmentally correct energy, clean energies like solar energy”, he said.

Between 2014 and 2018, Moro was responsible for judging cases for suspected corruption at Petrobras and presents his role as a judge as an electoral asset. Of his 45 sentences, however, 8 were overturned in higher courts. He left office and the judiciary in 2018 to assume the post of Minister of Justice in the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.

Moro also referred to public banks such as Banco do Brasil and Caixa Econômica Federal, indicating that he would privatize them if he is elected President of the Republic in the October election.

“Each privatization needs to evaluate the moment, but my bias is positive. The subject cannot be a taboo, Brazil needs to break these taboos. Another example is the banks, Caixa and Banco do Brasil. Today we have digital banks that are [sic] a model that worked. And we are stuck in the past. If it is possible to privatize everything, then privatize everything,” he said.

Moro has a three-day agenda in the interior of São Paulo, a traditional stronghold of the PSDB, and prioritized meetings with businessmen and evangelical pastors, sectors that in 2018 mostly supported the then candidate Jair Bolsonaro.

The former judge, state deputy Arthur do Val (Podemos), pre-candidate for the government of São Paulo, accompanies the agenda in the countryside.

This Monday (31), in an interview with the newspaper Diário da Região, from São José do Rio Preto, he said he predicted a catastrophic scenario in the event of a second round between President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and former President Lula (PT). ).

“I would vote for anyone other than Lula or Bolsonaro. I would vote for a goat if that were the case. But never for one or the other. Our project has a better chance of winning,” he said.

On the morning of this Tuesday (1st), the pre-candidate attended a breakfast at the Hospital de Base de São José do Rio Preto, met with a group of about 40 pastors and participated with a group of 150 businessmen from the Lide Noroeste Paulista (Group of Business Leaders).

Lide was founded in 2003 by the current governor and presidential candidate João Doria, who led the entity in the following years until he left to assume the presidency of São Paulo in 2017.

Asked about the visit to João Doria’s strongholds, Moro did not mention the governor of São Paulo, but said he will work to win over the electorate in the state of São Paulo.

“São Paulo is very similar to my state, Paraná. It has many similarities. We are going to do the same thing that we are going to do in the rest of the country: talk to people, speak the truth and listen to demands”, he said.

This Wednesday (2), Moro continues on the agenda through the interior of São Paulo and visits the city of Bebedouro (384 km from São Paulo). There, he will participate in a meeting with leaders of Ciesp (Center for Industries of the State of São Paulo).