SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s former President Fernando Collor was arrested early on Friday within the northeastern state of Alagoas and ordered to start serving a jail sentence stemming from his 2023 conviction for corruption.
Collor was convicted of receiving 20 million reais ($3.5 million) to facilitate contracts between BR Distribuidora, a gas distributor previously managed by the state-owned oil firm Petrobras, and building agency UTC Engenharia for the development of gas distribution bases. In return, he supplied political help for the appointment of executives at BR Distribuidora when it was nonetheless state-owned.
Collor, who led the nation from 1990 to 1992, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months, to be served initially in jail, somewhat than below home arrest.
Underneath the Brazilian authorized system, instances regarding members of Congress, presidents and ministers go on to the Supreme Court docket. He was not but in jail as a result of his legal professionals have been nonetheless lodging appeals.
The case stemmed from the Operation Car Wash, a sweeping corruption probe that has implicated high politicians and businesspeople throughout Latin America — together with present President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was arrested in 2018 and imprisoned for practically two years.
Collor, 75, was the primary Brazilian president elected by fashionable vote, in 1989, after a 21-year military dictatorship. He was impeached and faraway from workplace by Congress in 1992 following corruption allegations. In 2007, he was elected as a senator representing his dwelling state of Alagoas in northeastern Brazil.
Supreme Court docket Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the previous president’s arrest Thursday, with the total board set to vote on Friday whether or not to substantiate the choice. De Moraes stated in his resolution that Collor ought to start serving his sentence, noting that the previous president’s legal professionals have tried to pull out proceedings by appeals.
The justice additionally stated that the court docket had beforehand dominated in comparable instances that, as soon as appeals don’t have any advantage, the sentence might be served instantly.
Collor’s legal professionals didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from The Related Press.
