Brazil police arrest presidential aide in World Cup probe as anti-corruption protest is staged

Record ID: 875663

  • Title: Brazil police arrest presidential aide in World Cup probe as anti-corruption protest is staged
  • Date: 23rd May 2017
  • Summary: BRASILIA, BRAZIL (MAY 23, 2017) (REUTERS) CLOSE- UP OF A MASK PLACED IN THE GRASS IN FRONT OF THE BRAZILIAN CONGRESS IN A PROTEST STAGED AGAINST POLITICAL CORRUPTION LINES OF MASKS PLACED IN THE GRASS, OUTSIDE CONGRESS BANNER IN FRONT OF CONGRESS READING (IN PORTUGUESE): "BRAZILIAN POLITICIAN, YOU ARE MISSING SHAME ON YOUR FACE." CLOSE-UP OF BANNER READING (IN PORTUGUESE): "BRAZILIAN POLITICIAN, YOU ARE MISSING SHAME ON YOUR FACE." MASKS PLACED IN THE GRASS PROTEST ORGANISER AND DIRECTOR OF RIO IN PEACE ORGANISATION, ANTONIO CARLOS, ARRANGING MASKS (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PROTEST ORGANISER AND DIRECTOR OF RIO IN PEACE ORGANISATION, ANTONIO CARLOS, SAYING: "The red masks represent shame, shame which we do not see across the faces of the Brazilian political class. The Brazilian political parties are swimming in corruption scandals, irrefutable proof has been presented and these men, instead of showing their faces coloured by shame, treat society as if nothing has happened." GENERAL VIEW OF MASKS OUTSIDE CONGRESS MASKS MOUNTED ON THIN METAL POLES MOVING IN WIND ENGINEER, LINCON FONSECA, TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OF MASKS (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) ENGINEER, LINCON FONSECA, SAYING: "There is a large discrepancy today between our politicians and everyone else, even those that fill us with some sense of hope in their speeches end up revealing their true self too." GENERAL VIEW OF MASKS OUTSIDE CONGRESS CLOSE-UP OF RED MASK IN FRONT OF CONGRESS AND BRAZILIAN FLAG
  • Embargoed: 6th June 2017 21:19
  • Keywords: Michel Temer stadium 2014 World Cup
  • Location: BRASILIA, BRAZIL
  • City: BRASILIA, BRAZIL
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA0036I28VNN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Brazilian police on Tuesday (May 23) arrested a presidential aide and two ex-governors as part of an investigation into the 2014 World Cup's most expensive stadium, another black eye for the country's political establishment that adds pressure on beleaguered President Michel Temer.
    Tadeu Filippelli, a special adviser in Temer's Cabinet, and former Federal District governors Jose Roberto Arruda and Agnelo Queiroz were taken into custody early in the day, a police communique said.
    Temer's office said in a statement that it would fire Filippelli.
    Reuters could not immediately reach Filippelli, Arruda and Queiroz or their representatives. The Federal District encompasses the capital Brasilia.
    Renovation of the Brasilia stadium for the 2014 World Cup cost about 1.5 billion reais ($459.38 million), prosecutors and police said in a statement, and an auditing court has said the construction included rampant overbilling.
    It was the second-most expensive soccer arena in the world after the reconstruction of Wembley Stadium in London, according to the local World Cup committee's documents on spending.
    All the while on Tuesday red masks were lined up on the grass outside Congress in an anti-corruption protest run by NGO Rio in Peace, whose organizer Antonio Carlos, said the political class should show more shame.
    A total of 595 masks were placed in the grass on thin metal poles, representing the 513 lawmakers of the Lower House, along with 81 Senators and the head of state, Michel Temer.
    Of that total, only 95 were not painted red - the colour intended to depict the politicians' shame - representing the few the organisation believes to have saved itself from the sweeping scandal. Passerby and engineer, Lincon Fonseca, however, said even those who offer a ray of hope to the nation seem to end up embroiled in the scandals.
    Temer has resisted growing calls for his resignation after the disclosure of a recorded conversation in which he appears to condone the payment of hush money to a jailed lawmaker in a separate corruption probe.
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