Former Brazil finance minister charged with corruption

(FILES) In this file photo taken on October 27, 2015 former Brazilian Economy Minister Guido Mantega speaks during the public hearing of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry investigating suspicious loans made by the National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) at the Congress in Brasilia.
Former Brazil finance minister Guido Mantega was indicted on August 13, 2018 on money laundering and other charges as part of the corruption scandal that has rocked the country’s business and political elites. / AFP PHOTO / EVARISTO SA

 

BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Former Brazil finance minister Guido Mantega was indicted Monday on money laundering and other charges as part of the corruption scandal that has rocked the country’s business and political elites.

Mantega, 69, is accused of taking money from construction giant Odebrecht in exchange for helping to advance legislation that favored the company, Judge Sergio Moro wrote.

It is the first time Mantega has been charged in the so-called “Operation Car Wash”, a vast probe of a pay-to-play relationship between Brazilian companies and politicians centered around the state oil company Petrobras.

Mantega was finance minister during the second term of now jailed former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and continued to hold the post under Lula’s successor Dilma Rousseff.

© Agence France-Presse