Sergio Cabral, former governor of Rio de Janeiro accused of having received astronomical bribes for construction sites of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, will soon leave prison after six years in prison, thanks to a decision by Brazil's Supreme Court handed down last Friday.
By three votes to two, the magistrates of Brazil's highest court decided that Sergio Cabral, 59, could be placed under house arrest pending the appeal judgment.
His lawyers estimate that he should probably be released from prison on Monday, the time to resolve the final bureaucratic details.
Considered in Brazil as a champion of corruption and a king of bling-bling, the former governor was sentenced in 23 cases to more than 425 years in prison, but he still has to be tried on appeal by higher authorities.
According to prosecutors, he would have bought quantities of jewelry and other luxury items with the embezzled money, which would also have been used to pay for a riding course for his son.
The state of Rio on the verge of bankruptcy
Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes, who voted decisively on Friday, said the defendant could not “stay in a preventive decision indefinitely”, a measure taken to avoid the possible destruction of evidence if he remains at liberty pending his judgment.
But the magistrate clarified that this decision did not mean “in no case the absolution” of Sergio Cabral.
Journalist by training, son of a renowned writer, Sergio Cabral was governor from 2007 to 2014, during the boom years when Brazil was awarded the organization of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio .
According to the prosecutors, each call for tenders for public works followed the "5% rule", paid in the form of bribes, including during the renovation of the legendary Maracana stadium for the World Cup.
The revelations of large-scale corruption involving Sergio Cabral have deeply shocked public opinion.
The embezzlement directly affected the public finances of the state of Rio, which found itself on the verge of bankruptcy after the Olympics.
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