Brazil state governor facing corruption charges

The governor of the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, Fernando Pimentel, is being charged by the Federal Police with passive corruption, criminal conspiracy, money laundering, and influence peddling. The accusation comes as a result of the investigations under Operation Acronym, launched to probe into benefits granted to companies through the development of public policies.

It will now be the task of the Prosecutor-General's Office to decide whether it agrees with the charges and if they should be brought to court. As a governor, Pimentel can only be tried by the Supreme Court.

In one of the inquiries, the Federal Police believes that the governor, while serving as minister of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade between 2011 and 2014, may have made efforts to favor Caoa carmaker. In 2012, the ministry introduced the Inovar Auto program, which provided tax breaks to factories in the automotive sector.

The Federal Police claims Caoa paid $595.12 thousand to keep the government initiative uninterrupted. The amount was turned over to two firms belonging to Benedito Oliveira Neto, known as Bené, which provided no services to the carmaker, and were only used to issue false invoices and receive funds.

Bené worked in Pimentel's campaign while the latter was running for governor in Minas Gerais.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira