MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Caught you!! Brazilian Senator returns cost of air trip to have a hair implant

Renan Calheiros, president of the Senate and one of the five most powerful persons in the country

The president of the Brazilian Senate, Renan Calheiros had decided to return the equivalent of public funds he used to fly on a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) aircraft from Brasilia to Recife, where he underwent a hair implant.

 The decision was announced after Senator Calheiros, from the ruling coalition, consulted the head of the Air Force to verify if he had committed an “impropriety.” In his request to use the aircraft, Calheiros told FAB that the reasons were “work-related.” The amount returned was not informed.

His press office didn't explain why he used a FAB aircraft to fly to Recife.

The 'impropriety' was revealed by a Folha do Sao Paulo column published on Saturday, December 21 which showed that Calheiros used a FAB aircraft to travel on Wednesday, December 18, to Recife, the capital of Pernambuco, where he would undergo a surgery to implant 10,000 hairs on the next day. However, his official schedule on the Senate website didn't show any appointments in Recife.

Brazilian law does not fully regulate the use of FAB aircraft by authorities but does not contemplate travels for personal reasons. The rule allows such use for safety, medical or work-related reasons, as well as trips to authorities' permanent residencies.

It establishes that “the transportation of civil authorities for reasons other than these is a severe administrative violation, and whoever is responsible will be subject to the applicable administrative, civil and legal penalties.”

It was the second time this year that Calheiros used a FAB aircraft for private purposes. In June, he went to Trancoso, Bahia to attend the wedding of the daughter of his party colleague, Eduardo Braga. After the trip was made public, he returned 13,500 dollars to the federal government.