Brazil infrastructure minister keeps job, immunity - judge
Tue Feb 14, 2017 | 8:44pm GMT
Brazil infrastructure minister keeps job, immunity - judge
A Brazil Supreme Court justice rejected an injunction that sought to remove President Michel Temer's minister in charge of infrastructure investment, Wellington Moreira Franco, who has been named in a corruption investigation.
Justice Celso de Mello's ruling on Tuesday also allows Moreira Franco to keep his immunity from prosecution by lower courts. The injunction filed by a leftist opposition party sought to annul his appointment as cabinet minister, arguing that Temer was trying to shield him from prosecution.
Mello ruled that was not the case.
Moreira Franco was implicated during plea bargain testimony by a former executive of engineering conglomerate Odebrecht who is a defendant in the sweeping bribery and political kickback investigation known as "Car Wash."
The probe, centred around state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, has already ensnared dozens of top government, political and corporate leaders over the past two years and could implicate many more, including Temer himself, as plea bargain testimony advances.
More:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-brazil-corruption-idUKKBN15T2P6?rpc=401&