BRAZIL
Housecleaning Starts at Home
Brazil’s far-right president-elect stormed into office on promises to crack down on crime and root out corruption. But ahead of his inauguration his son has come into the crosshairs.
Newly elected President Jair Bolsonaro is set to take office Jan. 1, Reuters reported. But allegations concerning his son, Rio de Janeiro state lawmaker and Senator-elect Flavio Bolsonaro, are casting doubts on the sincerity of his pledges to change Brazil’s endemic culture of corruption.
The scandal stems from Brazil’s Council for Financial Activities Control’s (COAF) claims that 1.2 million reais ($305,033) flowed through the bank account of Flavio’s driver in 2016-17. Some of those funds eventually landed in the account of the president-elect’s wife, Michelle Bolsonaro.
While all three men deny any wrongdoing, local media remain skeptical of their explanations.
“Ever since this case came to light, there has been a spectacle of evasions and unconvincing explanations on the part of the Bolsonaros,” Brazil’s biggest newspaper, Folha de S.Paulo, said in an editorial on Thursday.
The driver, Fabricio Queiroz, says the money stemmed from his side-business buying and selling cars.
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