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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 23 december 2020

Rio de Janeiro police arrest outgoing Mayor Marcelo Crivella

Associated Press highest level since June. It
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio has since ebbed, but the
de Janeiro state police ar- city's number of hospitaliza-
rested outgoing Mayor tions remains elevated, ac-
Marcelo Crivella on Tues- cording to official data.
day in connection with an At one point during the
alleged kickbacks scheme, pandemic, municipal em-
yet another show of po- ployees were filmed loiter-
litical turmoil in Brazil's post- ing outside hospitals and
card city. derailing local media inter-
Seized materials, phone views with family members
data, financial intelligence of COVID-19 patients.
reports and testimony from Crivella repeatedly said
collaborators "revealed the during his reelection cam-
existence of a well-struc- paign that Paes, who was
tured and complex criminal mayor when Rio hosted
organization led by Crivella the 2016 Olympic Games,
and that acted within City would be jailed if elected
Hall since 2017," according because of other investiga-
to a statement from Rio's tions.
public prosecutors' office. Crivella hasn't faced any
The evangelical bishop allegations over corruption
turned politician is sched- in his administration's pan-
uled to leave office on Jan. Rio de Janeiro Mayor Marcelo Crivella is escorted to a medical exam after his arrest, at the city demic response. However,
1 after losing a reelection police headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020. Rio's Gov. Wilson Witzel has
bid in a landslide to his pre- Associated Press been suspended from of-
decessor, Eduardo Paes. fice since August when
The defeat came in spite of walked into police head- Twitter that he was in touch Crivella introduced a step- one of Brazil's top courts
backing from President Jair quarters. with Felippe and had asked by-step strategy to reopen linked him to irregularities
Bolsonaro, who draws wide Investigations earlier this him to mobilize municipal the economy. Health ex- in health spending to fight
support from evangelical year showed Crivella main- workers and ensure smooth perts at the time welcomed COVID-19.
congregations. tained close links to Rafael transition. He called on the gradual approach, but Witzel is also battling im-
Crivella, 63, was an unlikely Alves, a businessman who health workers in the city's expressed fears he was im- peachment proceedings
leader for the famously lib- was also arrested on Tues- network to continue aiding plementing it too soon. that could give his job to
ertine city, but in 2016 he day. the population through the Earlier this month, the city's another person under in-
surfed a wave of conser- Investigators alleged that pandemic. seven-day average of con- vestigation, Deputy Gov.
vative support prompted Alves decided which com- After the pandemic's peak, firmed cases surged to its Cláudio Castro.q
by a massive corruption in- panies would win con-
vestigation to election vic- tracts, and promised to
tory. In office, he has made award them in exchange
headlines for breaking for payments. Alves never
with tradition and distanc- held an official position, but
ing himself from the widely his brother was the head of
popular Carnival revelry. the city's tourism office and
Police officers arrived at he held frequent meetings
Crivella's home at 6 a.m., with Crivella.
local TV footage showed. Prosecutors accused Criv-
In September, they visited ella, Alves and five other in-
the mayor's home and of- dividuals of charges includ-
fice to collect documents ing corruption, defrauding
related to the probe. public tenders, misappro-
Crivella told reporters upon priation of funds and mon-
his arrival at the Rio police ey laundering, according
headquarters on Tuesday to the statement.
that his arrest is unfair. He Jorge Felippe, the president
also linked it to his willing- of Rio's city council, will as-
ness to fight corporate in- sume office while Crivella is
terests and lobbyists. jailed. Deputy Mayor Fer-
"I am the mayor who most nando MacDowell died of
fought corruption in Rio de a heart attack in 2018.
Janeiro," Crivella said as he Mayor-elect Paes wrote on