The Brazilian Minister of Education presented his resignation on Monday March 28 while he is under investigation for influence peddling in favor of political allies of evangelical pastors.
The resignation of Milton Ribeiro, who is also an evangelical pastor, was accepted by President Jair Bolsonaro and published in the Official Journal.
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The scandal erupted when the daily Folha de S. Paulo revealed last week that the minister had claimed in an audio recording to give priority to grants to schools in municipalities run by "
friends
" of two influential evangelical pastors, at the request of President Bolsonaro.
According to the Brazilian press, one of these pastors even asked a mayor to give him a kilo of gold so that he could intercede on his behalf in obtaining subsidies.
These revelations prompted the Supreme Court to open an investigation against the minister.
“
I asked the president to leave office so that no suspicion hangs over my actions or those of the government
,” the minister said in his resignation letter leaked to the Brazilian press on Monday.
Avalanche of resignations
Milton Ribeiro was the third education minister of Jair Bolsonaro, whose government was rocked in just over three years in office by an avalanche of resignations and dismissals.
Education is, along with Health, the most problematic portfolio in Jair Bolsonaro's Brazil: Health has also experienced three dismissals or resignations of ministers, due to differences with the Head of State on the policy to be followed on the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The departure of the Minister of Education comes at the height of the launch of the pre-campaign for the October presidential election where Jair Bolsonaro is a candidate for his own succession.
The far-right head of state was elected on his promise to eradicate corruption, endemic in Brazil.
Close to evangelicals, Jair Bolsonaro had tried since last week to save the head of his minister entangled in scandal.
But the maintenance of the latter "
had become untenable
" while some ministers, concerned about the image of the government in this election year, demanded his departure, acknowledged a source from the presidency to AFP.
Milton Ribeiro nevertheless continued to claim his innocence.
"
I have the full conviction that I have never committed a single act of management of my ministry that has not been dictated by correctness and probity
," he assured.