Brazilian justice issued Wednesday June 22 an arrest warrant against Milton Ribeiro, former Minister of Education of President Jair Bolsonaro, accused of corruption and influence peddling in the allocation of public funds, announced the police .
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In March, the daily "
Folha de S. Paulo
" revealed a recording in which the minister said he gave priority to grants to schools in municipalities run by "
friends
" of two influential pastors, at the request of President Bolsonaro.
“
Documents, testimonies and the preliminary investigation report showed signs of criminal practice for the granting of public subsidies
”, explained the Federal Police, which deployed in the morning a vast operation to dismantle this network, with five arrest warrants and 13 search warrants in five Brazilian states.
"Cowardice"
According to the Brazilian press, one of the suspected pastors even asked a mayor to give him a kilo of gold to intercede on his behalf in obtaining subsidies.
Milton Ribeiro, himself a Presbyterian pastor, had resigned after the huge scandal caused by the recording which prompted the opening of an investigation by decision of the Supreme Court.
The Federal Police has not yet confirmed whether the former minister has been arrested.
He faces a sentence of 2 to 5 years in prison for influence peddling and 2 to 12 years for corruption.
In March, President Bolsonaro, who enjoyed massive support from evangelicals when he was elected in 2018, said he would put his “
hand in the fire
” for Milton Ribeiro,
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This Wednesday, he seemed to want to distance himself.
“
Let him answer for his actions, I pray to God that he has no problem.
But if that's the case, it shows that I have no influence over the police
,” said the head of state in an interview with local radio Itaitiaia.
“
I have 23 ministers, a hundred secretaries of state... If someone does something wrong, will they say it's my fault?
“, he quipped.
Milton Ribeiro, 64, took office in July 2020. He was the third education minister of Jair Bolsonaro, whose government has been rocked by an avalanche of resignations and dismissals.
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