Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki was killed in a plane crash Thursday, his son said, raising doubt about who will take over his blockbuster graft investigation into dozens of politicians.
Rescuers found three bodies in the wreckage of the small, twin-prop plane that crashed off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state amid heavy rains, according to firefighters.
"Dear friends, we have just received confirmation that our dad died! Thank you all for your thoughts," his son, Francisco Prehn Zavascki, said on his Facebook page.
A judicial source earlier told Reuters that Zavascki was aboard the aircraft.
Zavascki had been reviewing explosive testimony from dozens of executives at engineering group Odebrecht that has been expected to implicate hundreds of politicians in the biggest corruption case in Brazil's history.
The Hawker Beechcraft C90GT carrying Zavascki left a Sao Paulo airport around 1 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) and crashed into the sea about 80 minutes later near the town of Paraty, which was the plane's destination, according to air force and civil aviation authorities.
The plane belonged to luxury hotel group Emiliano, according to civil aviation authority ANAC. There was no information provided on the identity of the two other bodies retrieved.
The investigation led by Zavascki, involving at least 6.4 billion reais ($2 billion) in bribes for contracts with state-run enterprises, has led to the jailing of dozens of senior executives and threatens to batter the ruling coalition of President Michel Temer.
Under Supreme Court rules, Zavascki's caseload would normally fall to the justice named by Temer to replace him, but an exception can be made for urgent matters, according to a court representative.
