Brazil’s Supreme Court convicts ex-president Collor for corruption
Brasilia, May 18 (EFE).- Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday voted to convict former president Fernando Collor de Mello for corruption, official sources reported.
Six of the court’s 10 magistrates voted to convict the 73-year-old former leader, with the rest of the judges to vote next week when the session resumes. He will also be sentenced at that time.
Supreme Court judge Edson Fachin, rapporteur in the case, argued there was sufficient evidence that the crimes occurred and were committed by Collor when he was a senator.
He proposed a sentence of 33 years in prison and a fine of 20 million reais ($4 million) for the crimes of passive corruption, money laundering and criminal organization.
The former president, who governed Brazil between 1990 and 1992, was impeached in 1992 on corruption charges. Between 2007 and 2023 he held a seat in the Senate.
The case that the Supreme Court is now hearing is an offshoot of the Car Wash probe and accuses Collor of using his influence to benefit his friend and businessman Joao Lyra in fraudulent contracts with a subsidiary of the state-owned Petrobras.
For intermediating in the concession of these contracts, which had a total value of 240 million reais, the former president is suspected to have received a commission of about 15 percent.
Collor’s defense said that he “did not commit any crime,” according to Brazilian outlet G1. EFE
mat/tw
