BRASÍLIA (Reuters) – President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday that he “exaggerated” when he said he believed in then Education Minister Milton Ribeiro to the point of putting his face on fire for him, but reiterated his confidence in the former assistant and credited the ex-subordinate’s arrest in an attempt to wear down the government.
The president, who has among his most faithful voters the evangelical sector, said that suspicions cannot be raised in a “lightly” way about the former minister, who is an evangelical pastor and is investigated in case of suspected corruption involving education funds.
“I continue to believe in Milton, if something comes up, answer for your actions”, said the president in the traditional weekly live on social networks.
“I said back there that I would put my face on fire for him, right? I exaggerated, but I put my hand in the fire for Milton, okay?”, he added.
For Bolsonaro, his former minister “should not even have been arrested”. Ribeiro was released this Thursday by order of the Federal Regional Court of the First Region (TRF-1), a day after being detained by the Federal Police.
The president argued that the type of corruption that Ribeiro is accused of is not comparable to cases of previous governments because it is an alleged influence peddling in the release of resources from the portfolio to city halls through the intermediation of two pastors whom Bolsonaro would have asked for special treatment.
Bolsonaro played down the atypical financial movement identified between the ex-minister’s wife and the daughter of a pastor, which would have occurred due to the sale of a car, according to the president.
“Each one can have 50 thousand in their account, 100 thousand reais in their account. If you sell a property today, you can have 200 thousand in your account, what’s the problem?”, he said.
For Bolsonaro, the ally’s arrest had no materiality, “but it served to wear down the government, to do something evil with Milton’s family,” he said.
“And you can see, it was not corruption in the way you are used to seeing in previous governments, overpriced works. None of that. It was a history of influence peddling.”
(Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello)
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