Rio de Janeiro – The Governor of Brazil’s second-largest City, Rio de Janeiro, Luiz Fernando Pezao,was arrested on Thursday on charges of involvement in the Country’s biggest-ever corruption scandal, Prosecutors said.
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 Jan. 1, 2019 made the fight against corruption one of the main themes of his election campaign.
(dpa/NAN)