BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) – A Brazilian court temporarily removed the governor of Rio de Janeiro on corruption charges, as the government announced Friday that it has carried out dozens of raids and more than a dozen arrests in the case.
Brazil’s chief prosecutor’s workplace said Wilson Witzel, a former federal judge, had been fired from the workplace for 180 days while under investigation.
The firm also stated that it raided its official workplace and apartment, as well as the apartment of the vice governor, who by law succeeds him while suspended, total indicated that there were 72 search and capture orders in six states. Federal District and Uruguay, as well as 17 arrest warrants.
The order of the High Court of Justice, the court of the moment of Brazil, may be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Witzel held a press convention to insist on his innocence, calling his suspension a “scandal for democracy” and the break-ins of his home and “circus. “He said he’d appeal.
Witzel said the prosecutor in the case rate had ties to the family circle of President Jair Bolsonaro, a former best friend with whom he had harmed his political best friend.
Investigators accuse Witzel of being involved in a public procurement fraud scheme to gain advantages from corporations linked to him and others under investigation.
Investigators suspect that one of the illegal monetary transactions referred to a social organization contracted through the state government to administer cash hospitals for the treatment of Covid-19 patients.
Prosecutors also accused Witzel of profiting from the bills they made to his wife through two other people under investigation.
Among those arrested Friday is Pastor Everaldo, an evangelical leader who chairs Witzel’s political party.
Witzel was a stranger to most Brazilians until the 2018 election, when he won the race for governor of the state by associating heavily with Bolsonaro’s successful presidential crusade and promising to be difficult for him. organized crime. He has been criticized through human rights organizations for protecting questionable police operations, such as the practice of firing helicopters at suspects in Rio’s slums.
However, he and Bolsonaro separated and became political enemies.
Witzel was already facing impeachment proceedings before the state legislature, the action was temporarily suspended through an appeal to the Brazilian Supreme Court. A Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Witzel’s impeachment trial before the state legislature could continue.