Another Corruption Scandal Rocks Brazilian Government

A new corruption scandal involving Brazil’s government has been made public and the country’s president, Dilma Rousseff, is moving quickly to correct it.

Rousseff announced on Saturday that she has dismissed government officials who were allegedly involved in a bribery ring — including Brazil’s deputy attorney general, reports Reuters.

Federal police arrested six people during a government office raid in Brasilla and Sao Paulo on Friday. Those arrested are accused of running an influence peddling ring that sold approvals of the government to businessmen in return for bribes.

Those under investigation include the former personal secretary of ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Rosemary de Noronha. Noronha was the head of the regional office of the presidency in Sao Paulo since 2005.

Rousseff was not affected by the original vote-buying scandal that Lula took part in and she has been able to build on his popularity with her reputation for not tolerating corruption.

Noronha served as secretary to Jose Dirceu, a former presidential chief of staff. Dirceu was sentenced to 11 years in prison for his role in a previous scandal involving congressional vote buying. His was considered the “trial of the century,” notes Fox News.

Jose Weber Holanda, the Deputy Attorney General, was also dismissed. The bribery scandal was allegedly headed by Paulo and Rubens Vieria, director of the National Water Agency and the Number 2 in the National Civil Aviation Agency.

Both of them were dismissed from their posts on Friday and arrested. Others implicated in the case also include officials in the National Aquatic Transport Agency, the Federal Assets Division, the federal accountability office, and the Education Ministry.

The Vieria brothers have been accused of recruiting second-tier government officials to assist them in the scheme.