Federal officers raided the home of Brazilian Senator Chico Rodrigues and found money hidden in his underwear, between his buttocks, claimed reports. Rodrigues is being probed for misusing money allotted to deal with COVID-19. Reports claimed that $5,300 [30,000 Reales] in cash was found with Rodrigues.
Police raided the senator's home in northern state of Roraima and the police said that it had video and images of the second personal search at Rodrigues' house. But the authorities said that the images or footage will not be released considering the manner in which the money was hidden. Cops stated that they did not want to cause a greater embarrassment. However, Rodrigues refuted these claims.
Senator Suspended for 90 Days
Following the news, Supreme Court suspended Rodrigues from his post for 90 days. The decision was taken by Justice Luís Roberto Barroso who said that the decision on suspending Rodrigues permanently has not been taken yet. Rodrigues is currently being investigated for misusing the funds allotted to the health secretary in Roraima to pay for the COVID-19 relief work.
The senator confirmed the news of the raid but denied any wrongdoing. According to reports, he has claimed that he has been clean in three decades of his political career. His office too did not comment anything about finding cash in his house.
Rodrigues who represents the northern state of Roraima served as deputy leader for the agenda of President Jair Bolsonaro, who tweaked the police raid as a proof that his government was fighting corruption. The government will fight corruption, whoever it is, said Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro Government Under Criticism
Bolsonaro government is being criticized as not standing true to its promise. Bolsonaro had come to power with the promise of ending the corruption of previous governments. In fact, his son Flavio is accused of misappropriating public funds during his tenure as a Rio de Janeiro state legislator.
Bolsonaro is criticized for forcing former justice minister Sergio Moro, known for his tough stance on corruption, resign from his post, earlier this year. Justice Moro had stated that Bolsonaro had sought to interfere in a police investigation for personal gain. But Bolsonaro has refuted these claims. Bosonaro is also under fire for his careless comments regarding COVID-19. Brazil has third highest cases of Coronavirus [5,170,996] and second highest number of death toll [152,513] in the world.
