Sarah Al-Arshani
4 hours ago
Protesters in Brazil are calling on President Jair Bolsonaro to step down, the AP reported.
Members of his administration allegedly tried to illegally profit from COVID-19 vaccine deals.
He is being investigated for knowing about the illegal activity.
Protests are spreading across Brazil as residents call for President Jair Bolsonaro to step down following allegations that members of his administration tried to illegally profit off of a COVID-19 vaccine deal, the Associated Press reported.
On Friday, Supreme Court Justice Rosa Weber authorized a criminal investigation into his response to the allegations.
The investigation is looking into whether or not Bolsonaro delayed or didn't take any action when the allegations were brought to his attention.
Luis Ricardo Miranda, the chief of the Health Ministry's import division, said he and his brother, lawmaker Luis Miranda, spoke to Bolsonaro after he was pressured to sign off on the import of millions of vaccines from Indian pharmaceutical Bharat Biotech, which showed invoice irregularities, including a $45 million upfront payment to a Singapore-based company.
Bolsonaro told him he would tell the Federal Police, but the police never got a request, the AP reported.
Eventually, Bolsonaro had the Miranda brothers investigated and his secretary-general of the presidency, Onyx Lorenzoni, said they presented falsified documents.
Bolsonaro has been criticized for his overall response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far infected more than 18 million Brazilians and killed over 523,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The New York Times reported that more than 100 lawmakers across multiple parties drafted impeachment articles against Bolsonaro last week.
"Every crime committed by the president is serious, but this one is even more serious because it involves lives," Joice Hasselmann, a member of Congress from São Paulo told the Times."Brazil can't stand another year with Bolsonaro."
Brazilians protest against Bolsonaro after corruption probe opened
©
Rio de Janeiro (dpa) - Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets against President Jair Bolsonaro's coronavirus policies on Saturday after the Supreme Court allowed investigations to be opened into Bolsonaro over corruption allegations related to vaccine orders.
In more than 110 cities in Brazil, demonstrators also called for an accelerated vaccine campaign, the Brazilian news portal G1 reported.
The protests were originally planned for July 24, but organizers called for them to take place earlier in light of the allegations.
Judge Rosa Weber granted a request by the Attorney General's Office to look into corruption allegations against Bolsonaro linked to the order of 20 million doses of the Indian Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin, the news agency Agencia Brasil reported on Friday evening.
A group of senators had filed criminal charges against Bolsonaro on suspicion of abuse of office for ignoring a suspicion of corruption.
A former Health Ministry employee had reported "unusual pressure" in the handling of the vaccine deal, worth more than 300 million dollars in total. The price of 15 dollars is also said to be the highest that the Health Ministry has been willing to pay for a dose so far.
The Health Ministry is said to have ordered the vaccine, which was developed and manufactured in India, before it was even approved in Brazil.
A lawmaker, the brother of the former Health Ministry official, testified to having informed Bolsonaro about these inconsistencies.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian government, which suspended the contract to buy the Covaxin vaccine doses this week, gave several versions of the case. Bolsonaro said he had no knowledge of irregularities.
According to senators close to the government, on the other hand, Bolsonaro allegedly informed the health minister at the time, Eduardo Pazuello, about the allegations.
The Indian company Bharat Biotech said that the price of a dose of Covaxin for foreign governments was between 15 and 20 dollars, and the price for Brazil was within this range.
The Covaxin deal has also recently been the focus of a parliamentary investigative committee looking into the actions and omissions of Bolsonaro in the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the opening of impeachment proceedings against him depends on the president of the Chamber of Deputies - who is considered an ally of Bolsonaro's government.
PHOTO Jose Lucena/TheNEWS2 via ZUMA Wire/dpa
No comments:
Post a Comment