Brazil’s former president, Fernando Collor, has been arrested early and ordered to begin serving a prison sentence stemming from his 2023 conviction for corruption.
Collor was convicted of receiving 20m reais ($3.5m) to facilitate contracts between BR Distribuidora, a fuel distributor formerly controlled by the state-owned oil company Petrobras, and construction firm UTC Engenharia for the construction of fuel distribution bases. In return, he offered political support for the appointment of executives at BR Distribuidora when it was still state-owned.
Collor, who led the country from 1990 to 1992, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months, to be served initially in prison, rather than under house arrest. He was arrested on Friday in the northeastern state of Alagoas.
Under the Brazilian legal system, cases concerning members of Congress, presidents and ministers go directly to the supreme court. He was not yet in prison because his lawyers were still lodging appeals.
The case stemmed from the Operation Car Wash, a sweeping corruption investigation that has implicated top politicians and businesspeople across Latin America – including the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was arrested in 2018 and imprisoned for nearly two years.
Collor, 75, was the first Brazilian president elected by popular vote, in 1989, after a 21-year military dictatorship. He was impeached and removed from office by Congress in 1992 following corruption allegations. In 2007, he was elected as a senator representing his home state of Alagoas in northeastern Brazil.
Supreme court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the former president’s arrest Thursday, with the full board set to vote on Friday whether to confirm the decision. De Moraes said in his decision that Collor should begin serving his sentence, noting that the former president’s lawyers have attempted to drag out proceedings through appeals.
The justice also said that the court had previously ruled in similar cases that, once appeals have no merit, the sentence can be served right away.
Collor’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Source: theguardian.com
