BRASILIA_ Brazilian senator Jaques Wagner resigned on Wednesday as head of the ruling party in the Senate, in the midst of an investigation against him for possible participation in a banking scam that is shaking the country a few months before the presidential elections.
A powerful ally of the leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the upper house of parliament, the investigation against Wagner brings the multimillion-dollar Master bank scandal closer to the president at a time when he is seeking re-election.
The senator announced his resignation as head of the caucus after “a conversation between friends” with Lula, according to a publication on Wagner’s X account.
On Thursday, police raided his residence in an operation authorized by the supreme court.
The Master Bank scandal began in November with its liquidation due to insolvency, after accumulating more than $7 billion in debts reimbursed by a state fund.
The investigation soon pointed to the links of its owner, Daniel Vorcaro, with figures from the public powers of Brazil.
Arrested in March, Vorcaro boasted to police that he had “friends in all powers.”
“Corruption”
According to the supreme court, Wagner is accused of receiving “improper economic advantages”, such as payments and an apartment that exceed one million dollars, in exchange for defending the Master’s interests in parliament.
Senator for Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT), Wagner was governor of the state of Bahia (northeast) and held several positions in the government of leftist Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016).
