Senate Inspector General: Demosthenes' situation is "worrying"

Agency Brazil - The Senate's Inspector General, Vital do Rêgo (PMDB-PB), today (27) defined the situation of Senator Demóstenes Torres (DEM-GO) as “worrying”. When he spoke, Rêgo was still waiting for the Attorney General of the Republic, Roberto Gurgel, to forward to the Inspector General's office the evidence he has about Torres' involvement with illegal gambling in Goiás. For him, the former leader of the DEM will not be able to escape a political trial if the Supreme Federal Court decides to accept the Attorney General's request and open an investigation to investigate him.

According to the Senate's Inspector General, although Demóstenes Torres claims that the wiretaps carried out by the Federal Police on his phone were illegal, from a political standpoint they could complicate the senator's situation if they prove the senator's close relationship with the illegal gambling operator arrested in the Federal Police's Operation Monte Carlo. "The accusation of a legal nature loses strength, and the accusation of a political nature gains strength," he said.

It will be up to Vital do Rêgo to forward a request to open proceedings in the Senate Ethics Committee against Demóstenes Torres if the documentation requested from the Attorney General's Office confirms that the senator received money from illegal gambling.

Torres was embroiled in the scandal after wiretaps by the Federal Police leaked to the press, revealing that the senator frequently spoke with the illegal gambling operator. Furthermore, other reports alleged that the senator from Goiás received gifts and solicited money from Carlinhos Cachoeira, and that he maintained an active phone line in the United States to communicate with the businessman.

Despite the allegations, the inspector general sought to be cautious and said that he does not yet have the documents to comment on the case. "The situation is worrying, and the inspector general's office will only comment when it receives the information requested from the Attorney General's Office," he stated.

Earlier, Demóstenes Torres submitted a letter announcing his resignation from the leadership of the Democrats party while he defends himself against the accusations. In the statement, the senator says he will take the Senate floor to answer questions from his colleagues as soon as he has access to the contents of the case files in which he is accused. He declares that he is innocent and that, although he was friends with Cachoeira, he never participated in any illegal activity.