EVER since an audio recording emerged in May of Brazil’s president, Michel Temer, seeming to discuss paying hush money and backhanders, the country’s zealous prosecutors have been expected to pounce. Even so, the decision by Rodrigo Janot, the chief prosecutor, on June 26th to charge Mr Temer with bribe-taking was momentous. It is the first such charge against a sitting president.
Mr Janot bases his accusations on the tape and testimony of Joesley Batista, the billionaire businessman who secretly recorded it. These resulted in a sting operation in which Rodrigo Loures, a former aide to Mr Temer, was filmed receiving 500,000 reais ($159,000) from Mr Batista’s envoy, allegedly for interceding with the antitrust agency on his firm’s behalf. Mr Janot suspects that the cash, plus another 38m reais promised by Mr Batista, was in fact meant for Mr Temer. The president protests his innocence and points out that his relationship with Mr Loures is all that links him to the...Continue reading
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