Friday, August 24th 2012 - 05:10 UTC

Brazilian former Senator agrees to reimburse 234 million dollars of looted money

One of two senators in Brazil who were stripped of their positions for corruption will reimburse 234 million dollars in public funds he embezzled in the late 1990s, authorities said Thursday.

Luiz Estevao was elected in 1998 Senator for the Federal District of Brasilia

“This is the largest amount to be repaid in a corruption case. A fair bit of the money has been recovered but this is compensation for public funds stolen”, chief prosecutor Helia Bettero told reporters.

This is the largest ”monetary compensation in the fight against corruption in Brazil, and probably the world,” she said.

Luiz Estevao, one of the richest men in Brazil who served eight years in prison, is required to pay 468 million Brazilian real (234 million USD) to the country's Treasury.

The businessman has been accused of misappropriating funds meant to be used for the construction of a public building in Sao Paulo - a crime which led to his dismissal in 2000 and the loss of his political rights until 2008.

Estevao has agreed to repay part of his debt in 96 installments, with his remaining assets as collateral.

Only two senators have been dismissed by Parliament in Brazilian history: Estevao and Demostenes Torres.

Torres was fired in July because of his alleged links with bookies. He was arrested in February.

 

Published in: Politics, Brazil.
Tags: Brazil, corruption, Luiz Estevao.

5 comments Feed

Note: Comments do not reflect MercoPress’ opinions. They are the personal view of our users. We wish to keep this as open and unregulated as possible. However, rude or foul language, discriminative comments (based on ethnicity, religion, gender, nationality, sexual orientation or the sort), spamming or any other offensive or inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated. Please report any inadequate posts to the editor. Comments must be in English. Thank you.

1 vestias (#) Aug 24th, 2012 - 10:50 am Report abuse
Assim é que os governos democraticos deviam fazer varrer a corrupção dentro dos corredores dos parlamentos a maior corrupção esta dentro da casa dos politicos Parabéns á justiça Brasileira por condenar um ex-senadore do Brasil
2 Brasileiro (#) Aug 24th, 2012 - 09:19 pm Report abuse
É. Todavia, essa mídia marrom em nenhum momento revela que esse filho da corrupção tem como o pai o PSDB.
3 BAMF Paraguay (#) Aug 24th, 2012 - 11:23 pm Report abuse
So he stole how many millions?? What about interest?? Brazil is pathetic in their fight against corruption. The more money you keep giving to the government in the form of taxes, the more corruption you will have. The only ones that benefit from this socialist model are the people in power. Look at Lula and his son, they have huge amounts of land and cattle that they only acquired during his presidency. Dilma may be a little different, but she can't influence the whole of the corruption monster. The only way to end corruption is to lower the amount of money the government manages.
4 cornelius (#) Aug 25th, 2012 - 03:24 pm Report abuse
Brazil is going socialist the tremendous inequality will force the goverment to go further and further lo the left this country will be finish just as it was making some progress “the workers Party” will make sure of that.
5 Fred (#) Aug 27th, 2012 - 06:31 pm Report abuse
@ 3 BAMF Paraguay: The 468 million Brazilian real amount includes interest. Brazil is quite pathetic in most of times, not in this case. Luiz Stevao passed 8 years in prison and will refund everything he stole with interest rate. This is not common and shows that there is a slow but true advance on corruption fight.

@ 4 cornelius: I'm not sure if I understand what you're saying. Could you explain it better?

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!

Advertisement

Get Email News Reports!

Get our news right on your inbox.
Subscribe Now!

Advertisement