Rio de Janeiro Governor Arrested in Massive Corruption Probe
HAVANA TIMES – The governor of Brazil’s second-largest city, Rio de Janeiro, was arrested on Thursday on charges of involvement in the country’s biggest-ever corruption scandal, prosecutors said.
Luiz Fernando Pezao was held at the governor’s palace, according to broadcaster Globo News, which showed images of him in police custody.
Pezao, who belongs to outgoing President Michel Temer’s conservative Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), is suspected of taking bribes when he was deputy governor from 2007 to 2014.
The case is linked to Lava Jato, the biggest graft scandal in Brazil’s history, in which dozens of politicians and entrepreneurs have been implicated. They include ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who’s serving a 12-year jail sentence on corruption charges.
Far-right president-elect Jair Bolsonaro, who will be sworn in on January 1, made the fight against corruption one of the main themes of his election campaign.
It is good to note that Bolsonaro intends to pursue corruption whether it is be politicians of the left or right, Such actions were not taken by the Lulu da Silva or Dilma Rousseff administrations against members of their own party. One wonders about the five billion dollars provided by Lulu for the port of Mariel development, opened jointly by Dilma and Raul. Any graft there?