Senator Chico Rodrigues speaking at the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee session in Brasilia
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
A Brazilian senator allied with far-right President Jair Bolsonaro was caught hiding money in his underwear during a police investigation into the misappropriation of public funds to fight the coronavirus, the local media.
Federal officers raided Chico Rodrigues’ home in northern Roraima state on Wednesday as part of a corruption investigation.
They found 30,000 reales ($ 5,300) in cash, part of which was found in Rodrigues’ underwear, including “between her buttocks,” mainstream media including O Globo, Folha de S. Paulo said. and Estadao, citing sources from the investigation.
Federal police confirmed to AFP that they were trying to dismantle a “possible criminal scheme embezzling public funds” set aside to fight the epidemic in the state of Roraima.
Rodrigues meanwhile released a statement saying the police “did their job in conducting a search as part of an investigation in which I am quoted”, although he made no mention of the cash. nor of where he would have been found.
He complained that he had “his house invaded just to do my job as a legislator” and insisted that he had done nothing wrong.
Bolsonaro accused the media of using history to portray his government as corrupt.
“This operation is a prime example of the absence of corruption in my government, of the fight against corruption, whoever it is,” he said.
Bolsonaro was elected in 2018 partly on the back of a promise to fight corruption, but since taking office he has faced several scandals.
They include an investigation into his son Flavio, who is accused of embezzling public funds while he was a state legislator in Rio de Janeiro.
Bolsonaro is under investigation into accusations by his former justice minister, Sergio Moro, that the president tried to interfere with police polls to protect his family and friends.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
