SAO PAULO, May 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazil’s ex-president Michel Temer handed himself in to police in Sao Paulo on Thursday, the day after a court ordered his return to prison.
Temer, 78, arrived at federal police headquarters in Sao Paulo in a convoy of vehicles, two hours before a deadline.
He was the second ex-president of the Latin American country to be caught up in a sprawling anti-corruption probe called Operation Car Wash that has claimed scores of political and corporate scalps.
He is suspected of having been at the head of a “criminal organisation” that diverted up to 1.8 billion reais (US$460 million).
Since 2014 the Car Wash probe has uncovered a vast graft operation involving state oil firm Petrobras and major construction companies paying bribes to politicians of several parties.
More than 150 people have been convicted and hundreds more charged so far.
Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was jailed in April 2018 for bribery and money laundering as part of the Car Wash probe.
Temer came to power in August 2016 after Lula’s hand-picked successor Dilma Rousseff was impeached for alleged financial wrongdoing in office.
He was succeeded by Jair Bolsonaro on Jan 1. — NNN-AGENCIES
