Brasilia, Feb 12 (Inditop.com/EFE) The governor of Brazil’s Federal District surrendered to police after the Supreme Court ordered his arrest on charges of official corruption and attempting to bribe a journalist.
By a vote of 12-2, the judges rejected a motion from defence attorneys that Jose Roberto Arruda be allowed to remain free on bail pending trial.
The 56-year-old politician will be compelled to step down as governor of the capital region.
Shortly after the arrest warrant was announced, Arruda went to Federal Police headquarters in Brasilia Thursday and turned himself in before reporters arrived.
The Brazilian high court also ordered five of Arruda’s aides arrested.
Arruda has been under siege since last November, when a former adviser provided videotapes showing the governor and 10 of the 24 members of the district legislature receiving kickbacks from businesses that received government contracts.
Though forced to resign from his political party, Arruda, who has avoided public appearances since the scandal broke, stubbornly refused to give up his office, spurring protests in the capital.
One of his co-defendants, Brasilia Metro official Antonio Bento da Silva, was arrested last week while handing over 200,000 reais ($108,166) to journalist Edson dos Santos, who was supposed to say that the incriminating videotapes were doctored.
The tapes were made by the mastermind of the corruption scheme, erstwhile Arruda aide Durval Barbosa, who delivered the evidence to authorities to get his own sentence reduced.
In one of the most startling scenes captured on tape, Barbosa and the others join in a prayer to thank God for their illicit gains.
Arruda initially claimed that the money was to be used to distribute paneton, a sweet bread enjoyed at Christmas, among the needy in Brasilia.
