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Second minister in new Brazil government quits | Second minister in new Brazil government quits |
(about 7 hours later) | |
The anti-corruption minister in Brazil's interim government has resigned, after a recording suggested he tried to derail an investigation into the state oil company, Petrobras. | |
Fabiano Silveira is the second interim minister to step down, a week after the planning minister resigned following the release of a similar recording. | |
Mr Silveira says his remarks have been taken out of context. | |
Both men were appointed by interim president, Michel Temer. | |
Mr Temer replaced Dilma Rousseff as president in 12 May, after she was suspended to face a Senate impeachment trial over allegations of massaging the budget ahead of her re-election in 2014. | |
She has argued that impeachment proceedings against her are designed to stop the investigation into Petrobras, known as Lava Jato, or Car Wash. | |
In the recorded conversation broadcast on TV, Mr Silveira is heard apparently advising the speaker of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, and an ex-senator, Sergio Machado, on how to avoid investigations by prosecutors. | |
He is also heard appearing to criticise investigators in the Petrobras investigation, which has implicated dozens of senior politicians and has led to the jailing of several top business executives. | |
Mr Machado, who is also the former president of Transpetro, a logistics company owned by Petrobras, is being investigated for corruption. As part of a plea bargain with investigators he has recorded a series of conversations with high-profile politicians. | Mr Machado, who is also the former president of Transpetro, a logistics company owned by Petrobras, is being investigated for corruption. As part of a plea bargain with investigators he has recorded a series of conversations with high-profile politicians. |
In his resignation letter, Mr Silveira said he was being targeted by "very unusual speculations". | |
"There is no opposition, in my words, to the works of the public prosecution's office or the judiciary," he said. | |
"Those were generic comments and simple opinion, certainly amplified by the climate of political exasperation we have all witnessed." | |
Prior to his resignation, staff at the ministry symbolically cleaned the building with broomsticks, and dozens of civil servants in the ministry's local offices offered their resignations in protest. | |
Last week, Romero Juca, a close advisor to Mr Temer and interim planning minister, resigned after recordings of conversations with Mr Machado were made public. |