Brazil President's senator son charged with crimes
By MARCELO SILVA DE SOUSA, Associated Press 1 hr ago
Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Prosecutors in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state have charged a son of President Jair Bolsonaro with commanding a criminal organization and laundering money when he was a state lawmaker between 2007 and 2018.
© Provided by Associated Press FILE - This Nov. 21, 2019 file photo shows Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, left, with his father Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at the launch of his father's new political party Alliance for Brazil in Brasilia, Brazil. Public prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro state have indicted Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro for allegedly commanding a criminal organization and laundering money when he was a state lawmaker between 2007 and 2018, according to a statement the public prosecutors’ office posted to its website on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)
The charges were leveled against Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro and 16 others on Oct. 19, according to a statement the public prosecutors’ office posted to its website on Wednesday. Prosecutors allege the senator had people on his government-funded payroll who weren't required to work and who had to return part of their salaries to him.
The senator denied having committed any crime and said he was confident that courts wouldn’t accept the charge, according to a message he posted to his verified Instagram account. The accusation is “inviable because it is devoid of any hint of proof. It's nothing more than a macabre and badly engineered tale,” one of his four lawyers, Rodrigo Roca, said in a statement.
Jair Bolsonaro was elected in 2018 on a wave of anti-corruption sentiment and with promises to root out crime. His crimefighting bona fides have faced skepticism in light of the investigation into his sons, as well as the resignation of his former Justice Minister Sergio Moro, who quit and alleged that the president had sought to intervene inappropriately in the federal police.
More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/brazil-presidents-senator-son-charged-with-crimes/ar-BB1aGZ5w?li=BBnb7Kz
