Key figure in Brazil president's bribery case freed

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A key figure in the bribery case against Brazilian President Michel Temer was unexpectedly freed from pre-trial detention Friday.

Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin who is overseeing a vast graft probe, ordered the release of Rodrigo Rocha Loures, who will wear a monitoring bracelet, court papers showed.

Loures became famous in Brazil as the "man with the suitcase" after he was filmed running from a pizza restaurant in Sao Paulo wheeling a bag containing 500,000 reais (about 150,000 US dollars.)

Rodrigo Rocha Loures is alleged to have been a middleman between the president and a businessman. /Police handout via BBC

Prosecutors say that money was part of a series of bribes paid by the JBS meatpacking giant to Temer, with Loures acting as delivery man. Temer was charged with accepting bribes this week and Congress is due to decide whether he should go on trial.

Loures' surprise release came after mounting speculation over whether he would agree to cooperate with prosecutors in a plea bargain and testify against Temer. A decision by Loures to testify would widely be seen as a potential death blow to Temer's attempt to ride out the scandal. His lawyer has repeatedly said that Loures will not sign a plea bargain.

Brazilian President Michel Temer (C) at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, on June 26, 2017. /VCG Photo

However, the lawyer and relatives described Loures as being put under harsh conditions in an attempt to break his will. Folha de S.Paulo news site on Friday reported that relatives appealed to Fachin for Loures' release, saying that he had spent weeks "without seeing the sun." He was reported to have been held in a cell with no window or toilet.

Loures is a close former aide to Temer and former congressional deputy.

(Source: AFP)