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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 a corruption probe into state oil company Petrobras. | |
Fabiano Silveira is the second interim minister to step down, a week after Planning Minister Romero Juca resigned over a similar leaked recording. | |
Mr Silveira says his remarks were taken out of context. | |
Both ministers were appointed by interim President Michel Temer. | |
'Coup' | |
Mr Temer replaced President Dilma Rousseff on 12 May after she was suspended pending an impeachment trial. | |
Ms Rousseff is accused of illegally manipulating the budget ahead of her re-election in 2014, which she denies. | |
She alleges that the impeachment trial was launched to remove her from power and thereby halt the investigation into corruption at Petrobras. | |
The investigation, dubbed Operation Car Wash, has led to dozens of politicians and business executives coming under scrutiny for allegedly paying and receiving kickbacks and bribes. | |
Leaked recordings made by former Senator Sergio Machado appear to back Ms Rousseff's allegation. | |
Mr Machado, who used to run a Petrobras-owned logistics company, recorded the conversations as part of a plea deal with Operation Car Wash prosecutors. | |
In the latest recording to be broadcast on TV, Mr Silveira can be heard criticising the prosecutors saying they were "totally lost". | |
He also seems to advise Senate Speaker Renan Calheiros and Mr Machado on how best to defend themselves from Operation Car Wash. | |
Brazil's corruption scandals | |
The recording was made three months before Mr Silveira became anti-corruption minister. | |
Mr Silveira argues that his remarks were taken out of context: "Those were generic comments and simple opinion, certainly amplified by the climate of political exasperation we have all witnessed." | |
He also said that he was not trying to obstruct the investigation. | |
"There is no opposition, in my words, to the works of the public prosecutor's office or the judiciary," he said. | |
Prior to his resignation, staff at the ministry symbolically cleaned the building with brooms, and dozens of civil servants in the ministry's local offices offered their resignations in protest. | |
Last week, interim Planning Minister Romero Juca resigned after another recorded conversation with Mr Machado was leaked. | |
Mr Juca appeared to talk of stopping Operation Car Wash by impeaching Ms Rousseff. |