On Thursday, leading Senator and former presidential nominee Aécio Neves became the latest name to be caught up in a spreading Brazilian bribery scandal. The Brazilian Supreme Court ordered Neves to be temporarily removed from his duties pending an investigation into allegations he accepted bribes from executives of JBS, the world’s biggest meatpacker. Early Thursday morning, Federal Police officers executed search warrants at Neves’ offices in Brasília and at his home in Rio de Janeiro. Prosecutors asked the Supreme Court to issue an arrest warrant for Neves. The full court will rule on the request within the next few days. Prosecutors said testimony taken from JBS executives showed Neves seeking and obtaining some R$2 million in bribes from the company. They said JBS has provided a udio and video tapes related to the accusation. In a statement, Neves denied the charges. Neves was the 2014 presidential nominee of the Social Democratic Party (PSDB). He narrowly lost a run-off election to then President Dilma Rousseff. Rousseff herself was removed from office over a budget scandal in 2016. Neves is now PSDB National Chairman. The accusations against Neves come just one day following similar charges leveled against Brazilian President Michel Temer. JBS executives allege that Temer authorized payments to a former Chamber of Deputies Speaker in exchange for the Speaker’s silence in a campaign finance investigation. In a statement Wednesday night, Temer denied the allegations. Press reports Thursday described the climate in Brasília as “highly charged,” or “tense and uncertain.”
Link to government news agency release
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