A former tourist minister and ally of embattled President Michel Temer was arrested, increasing pressure on Brazil's top leader hours ahead of an electoral court trial that could push him from power.
The high-profile arrest also came just a day after federal police sent Temer a list of questions in a separate criminal probe that involves him. Temer had 24 hours to answer the questions, but his attorneys asked for an extension yesterday afternoon.
Last month, a recording emerged that apparently captured Temer endorsing the payment of hush money to former Chamber of Deputies Speaker Eduardo Cunha, another former ally. Cunha is serving a 15-year prison sentence for corruption and money laundering.
Temer has denied wrongdoing and has vowed to stay in office in the face of increasing calls for him to step down. "Temer is hanging on by the skin of his teeth," said David Fleischer, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Brasilia.
The latest developments in Brazil's political crisis began early yesterday when former Tourism Minister Henrique Eduardo Alves was taken into custody on allegations of corruption related to the construction of a 2014 World Cup stadium in Natal.
Globo News captured images of Alves being arrested by federal police. Officials held a news conference later at which they laid out allegations that Alves and Fred Queiroz, Natal's secretary of public works, received bribes from major construction companies.
Alves, a former speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, was tourism minister under President Dilma Rousseff and Temer, who assumed the country's top post last year when Rousseff was removed for illegally managing the federal budget. Alves left the post soon after Temer took power in May 2016.
Also yesterday, Brazil's top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, rejected a petition by Rodrigo Rocha Loures, a former Temer aide, to be released from jail.
Loures was arrested over the weekend for allegedly helping to pay off Cunha. Police released video that apparently showed Loures carrying a suitcase filled with USD 154,000. Should he reach a plea bargain, his testimony could further implicate Temer.
Meanwhile, Brazil's Superior Electoral Court planned to begin Tuesday evening the judgment phase of a trial involving allegations that the 2014 Rousseff-Temer ticket received illegal campaign financing. The court is expected to meet for three days and could make a ruling this week.
If the court decides that the ticket did receive illegal campaign financing, as several plea bargains have suggested, what is left of Temer's mandate would be annulled. However, the career politician whose popularity is hovering around 8 per cent has said he would appeal.
Temer's lawyers have argued that as the vice presidential candidate in 2014, he should not be held responsible for decisions of the overall ticket.
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