Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has removed one of his senate allies from office after police arrested the man with a large amount of cash between his buttocks.
That money would have been stolen. The affair has embarrassed the president, who likes to present himself as a corruption fighter.
Senator Francisco Rodrigues is said to have requested the dismissal. Federal police arrested Rodrigues during a house search on Wednesday. This took place in response to alleged misuse of public money intended for the health sector in the fight against the coronavirus.
According to Brazilian magazine Revista Crusoé, Rodrigues tried to hide about 30,000 reais, some of which in his underpants. According to the magazine, some of the money would have been soiled.
The renowned Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo confirms the story. News site G1 cites an official source as saying that the sight of a “curious volume in the back part of the clothing” had aroused Rodrigues’ suspicion.
Rodrigues says on social media that he believes in “human and divine justice.” He states that he was working when the police suddenly broke into his house. “I have had a clean past and always lived a decent life. I have never been in a scandal,” writes the former senator.
President Bolsonaro was elected in 2018 against the background of the Brazilian corruption scandal Lava Jato (car wash), the most massive corruption scandal in Latin America that killed former president, Lula da Silva, among others.
In recent weeks, Bolsonaro, who emphasized the fight against corruption in his 2018 campaign, said he no longer feels the need to investigate government corruption. According to right-wing populist Bolsonaro, the investigations have lost relevance under his rule because corruption would not occur in his government.