VALTER CAMPINATO / AGENCY BRAZIL
Former Brazil President Fernando Collor de Melo
The former Brazilian president was arrested at dawn on Friday in the northeastern state of Alagoas and was ordered to begin to serve the penalty arising from his conviction for corruption in 2023.
Brazilian economist and politician Fernando Collor de Mellowhich led the country from 1990 to 1992, will serve a penalty of eight years and 10 months in prison, to be initially served in closed regime rather than house arrest.
Collor de Mello was convicted in 2023 for receiving about 3.1 million euros to facilitate contracts between BR Distribuidora, a fuel distributor previously controlled by the state oil company Petrobrasand the construction company UTC Engenharia for the construction of fuel distribution bases.
The judgment considered proved that, in return, offered political support to the appointment of executives at BR Distribuidora when he was still state.
According to the then deputy prosecutor of the Republic Lindôra AraújoIn addition to the reports of whistleblowers, evidence would have been collected such as emails, bank statements and other documents that would prove the accusations, recalls.
In the Brazilian legal system, cases related to members of the Congress, Presidents and Ministers go directly to the Federal Supreme Court. The former president was not yet arrested because his lawyers presented successive resources.
The case came from, a broad investigation of corruption that implied high -level politicians and entrepreneurs Throughout Latin America – which was arrested in 2018, sentenced to 17 years in prison and imprisoned for almost two years, being released after by the Brazilian Supreme.
Collor, 75, was the First Brazilian President elected by popular votein 1989, after a 21 -year -old military dictatorship. The center-right politician, deprived of and removed from Congress in 1992 following charges of corruption.
Collor returned to politics in 2006, having been elected senator by the state of Alagoas, in the northeast of the country. Became close to the former president of far right Jair Bolsonarofor those who campaigned in the 2022 elections. He kept the place in the Senate until the end of 2024.
The defense of former Brazilian president Fernando Collor de Mello received with “Surprise and concern”The arrest warrant issued by the Federal Supreme Court.
In the note sent to the press before the detention, the lawyers reported that the former president would present himself “to comply with the determined decision” by Judge Alexandre de Moraes, “without prejudice to the provisions of legal measures”.
The Federal Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes He ordered the former president’s arrest on Thursday, stating in his decision that Collor should begin to serve the sentence to which he had been convicted, noting that his lawyers tried prolong procedures through resources.
The judge stressed that the Court had already ruled in similar cases that, when resources have no merit, The penalty can be served immediately.
Maharaja hunter
From one of the more traditional politics families de Alagoas, Collor de Mello, Fernando Collor de Melo starred in a political career of the busiest and more controversial since the redemocratization of Brazil in the 1980s.
With the support and prestige of the family, owner of companies and radio and television stations in the state, was elected governor of Alagoas in 1986. He was elected president of Brazil in 1989, in First direct elections to the Presidency of the Republic after the military dictatorship (1964-1985).
In your campaign, it made strong Opposition to then President José Sarneyand defended the end of privileges to the so -called elites of Brazilian bureaucracy. Throughout the electoral dispute, Collor would be known as the “maharaja hunter“, Alluding to civil servants with high salaries.
The elections won at the time in a second tight lapdisputed against today Luiz Inácio Lula da Silvado PT.
His government, however, was marked by turbulence in various sectors. In the economic area, tried Hyperinflation that affected the country at the time, but without great success. He started a OPENING PROCESS OF THE COUNTRY To imported products, especially in areas such as the auto industry.
One of the more controversial measures adopted during Collor’s presidency was the confiscation of the savings of millions of Braziliansin 1990. The measure limited the amount of money families could raise from their economies, and picked up part of the population by surprise.
