Telesur.png Brazil's Workers' Party Suspends Senate Leader after Arrest Telesur, Venezuela, 5 December 2015 Brazil's governing party suspended its former Senate leader after he was arrested in connection to a corruption scandal involving the state oil company. Delcidio Amaral was arrested Nov. 25 after authorities said he had been caught on tape discussing plans to help former Petrobras executive Nestor Cervero flee the country in return for not implicating Amaral in wrongdoing. Cervero was jailed for just over 12 years in August after he was found guilty of playing a key role in a Petrobras corruption and money laundering scheme. A number of prominent Brazilian officials have been accused of accepting bribes and pocketing Petrobras revenues. Investigation The Workers' Party is currently conducting an internal investigation into the charges and will decide in the coming weeks whether to expel Amaral, who has already been suspended for 60 days. Since his arrest, President Dilma Rousseff's party has distanced itself from Amaral, who represents the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in the Brazilian senate. "None of the acts attributed to the senator is connected to his activities for the party. For that reason, the Workers' Party does not feel obliged to lend him any solidarity," Rui Falcao, President of the Workers Party, said in a statement. Lula Former president of Brazil and Workers' Party leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has also openly criticised Amaral. The arrest has shocked many within Brazil due to Amaral's key role in the Rousseff administration. He was the first sitting senator to be formally charged in the Petrobras scandal. Although President Rousseff has not been implicated in the scandal, there have been a number of allegations leveled against senior members of the Workers Party which has led to a rapid decrease in her popularity since her re-election last year. The Brazil's lower house announced Wednesday that they are looking to impeach the incumbent president. One of Brazil's richest men, billionaire banker Andre Esteves, was also arrested on November 26 after being accused of trying to help Cervero flee to Spain. From: <http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazils-Workers-Party-Suspends-Senate -Leader-After-Arrest--20151205-0016.html> http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazils-Workers-Party-Suspends-Senate- Leader-After-Arrest--20151205-0016.html -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
