City councilors arrested in a municipality in the Greater Belo Horizonte area.
Five parliamentarians were arrested on charges of forming a criminal organization and crimes against public assets, due to a corruption scheme operating in the São Joaquim de Bicas City Council, involving the collection of bribes from businessmen who depended on legislative approval to develop projects in the city; Carlos Braga (second from right to left), president of the City Council, is one of those arrested for collecting bribes from businessmen.
Setting the Agenda for Minas Gerais - An operation by the Public Prosecutor's Office today arrested five city councilors from São Joaquim de Bicas, in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte. The councilors are accused of forming a criminal organization and crimes against public assets, due to a corruption scheme that operated in the City Council, through the collection of bribes from businessmen who depended on the approval of the Legislative branch to develop projects in the city.
According to company directors who denounced the scheme, the city councilors themselves warned the businessman that a certain bill would only be approved after a bribe was paid. The "favors" were mainly requested from the real estate, metallurgical, and plastics industries, which depended on changes in municipal legislation to develop new projects.
The municipality has eleven council members, and so far, the president of the council, Carlos Braga (PSB), has been arrested, as well as council members Enílton César (independent), Marcos Aender dos Reis (PT), Tarcísio Alves Rezende (PMDB), and Cristiano Carvalho (PMDB). Computers and documents are being seized from the council members' homes to continue the investigations. All those arrested were taken, handcuffed, to the Igarapé police station, where they will give statements.