Fabricio Queiroz (R), former advisor and former driver of Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, is seen next to a police officer as he leaves the Homicide and Personnel Protection Department of the Civil Police in Sao Paulo, Brazil, June 18, 2020. /Reuters
A former aide to a son of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was arrested by Brazilian police on Thursday on corruption charges.
Fabricio Queiroz, former assistant to Flavio Bolsonaro, who is a senator, had disappeared from the public eye for over a year, but was located at the home of Frederick Wassef, the senator's lawyer.
Queiroz is suspected of participating in a scheme to embezzle public funds through Bolsonaro's office when the latter was a state representative in Rio de Janeiro, a post he held until he was elected to the Senate in 2018.
Xinhua reported that prosecutors said Queiroz's bank statements show he dealt with amounts incompatible with his salary, receiving over two million reals (over 372,000 U.S. dollars) in bank deposits from several employees of the Rio de Janeiro State Assembly. Senator Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation a political attack on his family.
Fabricio Queiroz (second left) is escorted by police after arriving from Sao Paulo at the Japarecagua airport, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 18, 2020. /AP
Speaking later Thursday on Facebook Live, the president said Queiroz had not been in hiding but was targeted for a "spectacular" arrest, as if he were "the greatest thug on Earth."
He added that he had no ties to the case.
Two sources said that Bolsonaro, earlier in the day, had summoned officials including Justice Minister Andre Mendonca and the secretary-general of the presidency, Jorge Oliveira, to coordinate a response to the arrest.
Bolsonaro, a former army captain, ran for office in 2018 pledging to get tough on crime and end decades of political corruption exposed by Brazil's notorious Car Wash graft investigation.
Since then, critics allege he has backpedaled on his push to clean up politics. Bolsonaro, meanwhile, has engaged in an increasingly fraught power tussle with Brazil's Supreme Court that has sparked fears among opposition politicians and others for the constitutional integrity of the country.
Former federal judge Sergio Moro, who oversaw the Car Wash probe and joined Bolsonaro's government last year, quit in April and accused the president of meddling in police appointments for personal reasons, triggering a federal investigation.
The Queiroz case has hung like a dark cloud over Bolsonaro's presidency, raising awkward questions about his and his son's political past in the rough-and-tumble world of Rio politics. Before becoming president, Bolsonaro represented the state as a federal lawmaker for nearly three decades.
(With input form agencies)