Governor of Brazilian
Capital Arrested On Corruption Charges
BRASILIA - Jose Roberto Arruda, governor of
the Brazilian federal district that includes
the capital city, was arrested Thursday on
corruption and bribery charges.
The arrest is the result of the Pandora's
Box Operation conducted by Brazilian federal
police, which gathered evidence of frequent
and regular payment of bribes made by
entrepreneurs to officials since 2002.
On Nov. 27, investigators discovered tapes
which recorded Arruda's instructions to his
secretary Durval Barbosa on how to
distribute bribe money among members of his
government.
Some companies gave the bribe money to
finance Arruda's campaign. In exchange, they
would be guaranteed to get service contracts
from Arruda's government.
One day after the tapes were made public,
television channels broadcast videos showing
the governor and local lawmakers collecting
money at Barbosa's office.
The videos were recorded with a hidden
camera by Barbosa, who became a police
collaborator in exchange for receiving a
lesser punishment for his own crimes.
The president of Brasilia's Legislative
Chamber, Leonardo Prudente,appeared in one
of the videos, hiding bundles of money in
his socks.
Prudente resigned on Jan. 26 after being
removed from office bycourt.
But he then appealed to the Supreme Court
and has resumed his office as president of
the chamber.
After the videos were leaked, Arruda issued
statements declaring to be "astonished" by
the corruption accusations and claiming to
be a victim of a plot.
On Dec. 12, 2009, the local newspaper O
Estado de Sao Paulo revealed that Arruda's
properties had grown by more than one
thousand percent in seven years.
The governor then resigned as a member of
the Democrats Party and thus cannot run for
reelection in October.
In the end, it was another videotape
recorded on Feb. 4 that made his arrest
possible.
The video showed one of Arruda's associates
trying to bribe journalist Edson dos Santos,
asking him to testify in favor of
thegovernor.
On Feb. 9, the Brazilian Lawyers'
Organization asked the PublicProsecution
Service to remove Arruda from office or
arrest him.
The governor surrendered to police Thursday
afternoon and spentthe night in a federal
prison.
The Brazilian supreme court on Friday
decided to keep him in jail, after rejecting
a habeas corpus request filed by his
lawyers.
After Arruda was arrested, Brazilian
Attorney-General Roberto Gurgel asked the
supreme court to rule in favor of a federal
takeover of the capital city, arguing that
all politicians in lineof succession to the
governor are suspected of being involved in
the scheme.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva said on Friday that he may designate
someone to govern the Brazilian capital, if
the supreme court rules in favor of such
federal intervention.
Editor: Han Jingjing
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