The arrest of a former corruption minister surprises Jair Bolsonaro in the middle of the campaign

A former minister and two evangelical pastors close to the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, were arrested alleged corruption this Wednesday as the far-right leader refines his campaign for October’s elections, in which he will seek re-election.

The complaint that led to the arrest of Milton Ribeiro, also pastor of an evangelical church, was filed last March, when he was still Minister of Education, and accuses him of extorting mayors and asking for bribes to free up resources from that office.

Bolsonaro’s first reaction, with the corroded image in the polls, which predict a victory for former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for October, was to ask Ribeiro to “account for his actions” if he was guilty, despite the fact that when the complaint arose He also said that he did not put his hands, but “his face in the fire” for him.

Now the president has admitted, however, that the case could fall on him, while arguing that Ribeiro’s arrest “proves” that the Federal Police “act” against crime and that the government, which has spent “more than three years without corruption “, does not tolerate irregularities.

The accusation

The story, in fact, takes place a stone’s throw from the presidential palace, to the point that the scandal was discovered by an audio obtained from the newspaper Folha of San Paoloin which Ribeiro stated that the “President of the Republic” himself asked him to “assist” pastors Gilmar Santos and Arilton Moura, now also arrested.

It was also learned that these two religious have been at least thirty times in the seat of government and that the Presidency has even placed the contents of those visits under “secret” for “100 years”, for alleged “security” issues.

The opposition leader in the Senate, Randolfe Rodrigues, immediately moved and he asked to set up a parliamentary commission of inquiry to the Ministry of Education and other possible “deals” the government might have with far-right evangelical pastors who support Bolsonaro.

Bribes and copies of the Bible

Rodrigues cited that, in addition to bribes, pastors offered ordinary copies of the Bible, the printing of which would be financed by the Ministry of Education, which had photographs of the then minister interspersed on its inside pages.

Ribeiro has been the fourth occupant of the Ministry of Education since Bolsonaro came to power in 2019 with the conviction that this office was fundamental to defeat the “cultural Marxism” which, in his opinion, is rooted in schools and universities.

The scandal surrounding Ribeiro is the latest to arise in that ministry. The parish priest took office in July 2020 in place of the economist Carlos Alberto Decotelli, who resigned after five days on charges of falsity in his curriculum.

Decotelli had replaced Abraham Weintraub, a far-right agitator who had resigned a month earlier due to heavy pressure from the government’s parliamentary base.

Bolsonaro’s prime minister of education was Colombian naturalized Brazilian philosopher Ricardo Vélez Rodríguez, who also imposed a strong ideological burden on his brief three-month administration that ended with his resignation demanded by sections of the ruling party.

Source: EFE

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