MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian lawmaker sponsors bill to punish corrupt politicians with amputation of both hands

Congressman Emerson Petriv, or Boca Aberta, said such a drastic measure was needed in a country fed up with widespread corruption committed with impunity.

A lawmaker who says Brazil is not doing enough to fight rampant political corruption put forward a bill on Tuesday that would punish any politician convicted of the graft with amputation of both hands.

The legislative proposal is not expected to advance in Brazil's Congress, where dozens of lawmakers are under investigation for corruption and money laundering.

Congressman Emerson Petriv, better known by his political name Boca Aberta, said such a drastic measure was needed in a country fed up with widespread corruption committed with impunity.

“It is a shocking bill, but unfortunately a majority of politicians steal taxpayers' money,” he said by telephone. In Arab nations, nobody steals anything for fear of having their hand cut off, he added.

Petriv said there was public support for his proposal, but to get approved the bill would need the backing of lawmakers who have not been caught robbing.

Brazil has jailed dozens of businessmen and politicians in the country's biggest ever corruption scandal known as the “Car Wash” investigation, but many have since been freed, including former president Lula da Silva who was convicted of receiving bribes.

Current president Jair Bolsonaro was elected on an anti-corruption platform vowing to clean up Brazilian politics.