Nine days before the end of his term, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Marcelo Crivella, was arrested on Tuesday, December 22 as part of an investigation into an alleged system of corruption within the Brazilian municipality, the prosecution confirmed. at Agence France-Presse (AFP).
According to the images shown by the GloboNews channel, the city councilor was arrested by the civil police and the state prosecutor’s services before 6 a.m. at his home in the affluent neighborhood of Barra de Tijuca. The chosen one was taken to the police station to be heard.
“I am the mayor who has acted the most against corruption in Rio de Janeiro. I ask that justice be done ”Marcelo Crivella, who was backed by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in municipal elections last month, but failed to win re-election, told reporters.
Several other people were arrested during the same operation, including businessman Rafael Alves, suspected of being the mastermind of the case and brother of Marcelo Alves, former president of the municipal tourism agency Riotur. According to the survey, which began in 2018, companies that wanted to sign contracts with Riotur handed checks to Rafael Alves.
Mauro Macedo, ex-campaign treasurer of Crivella and cousin of evangelical pastor Edir Macedo, founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD, neopentecostal), of which the mayor of Rio is a nephew, was also arrested.
End of mandate
Mr. Crivella, 63 years old, thus completes a mandate marked by multiple controversies. He will hand over the baton on 1er January, to Eduardo Paes (MDB, center right), who beat him by more than 30 points in the November elections (64% to 36%).
During the campaign, in which he sought to show his closeness to President Jair Bolsonaro, who recorded several campaign spots alongside him, the outgoing mayor insisted his successor would go to jail for alleged corruption.
Throughout his tenure, Mr. Crivella, a former pastor, missionary and gospel singer, was the subject of several lawsuits aimed at his mismanagement, accused of mixing politics and religion and favoring the members of his Church.
In July 2018, according to the newspaper O Globo, he promised during a meeting with evangelical pastors that IURD faithful would have priority for cataract operations in municipal clinics. The prosecutor’s office recently opened an investigation into the alleged use of the Universal Church in the Kingdom of God to launder corruption money.
After being the center of attention with hosting major sporting events like the 2014 World Cup final and the 2016 Olympics, Rio de Janeiro plunged into a serious political and financial crisis.
Rio state governor Wilson Witzel was dismissed at the end of August for alleged corruption. Before him, the last five governors of Rio have been in trouble with the law and four of them have even served in prison.
