Torquato Jardim will be the new Minister of Transparency.
The jurist and former minister of the Superior Electoral Court was chosen by interim president Michel Temer to replace Fabiano Silveira, who left the government after the second scandal involving audios of Sérgio Machado; Torquato Jardim will be sworn in on Thursday, the Planalto Palace informed.
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Lawyer and former minister of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Torquato Jardim, was chosen by interim president Michel Temer to be the new Minister of Transparency, Oversight and Control, replacing Fabiano Silveira, the Planalto Palace announced on Wednesday.
Silveira resigned this week after leaked statements in which he criticized Operation Lava Jato led to intense pressure from ministry employees who said they refused to work under his leadership.
This is the second change in the top ranks of the Temer government due to recordings made by the former president of Transpetro, Sérgio Machado, as part of a plea bargain agreement with the Lava Jato authorities.
Last week, Senator Romero Jucá also left the Ministry of Planning due to the release of a conversation about Lava Jato.
Torquato Jardim will be sworn in on Thursday, according to the Planalto Palace.
The jurist served as a minister of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) from 1988 to 1996 and held the presidency of the Brazilian Institute of Electoral Law (Ibrade). He also worked as a lawyer for the Brazilian government before the UN Commission on Transnational Corporations in New York and Geneva.
The Ministry of Transparency, Oversight and Control was created by the interim president to replace the former Comptroller General of the Union (CGU). Temer assumed the presidency after the ousted president Dilma Rousseff.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu)