Collor is arrested in Alagoas, after conviction for corruption at BR Distribuidora

Former President of the Republic and former Senator Fernando Collor de Mello was arrested at dawn on Friday (25), in Maceió (AL), after Minister Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court (STF), determine the immediate compliance with eight years and ten months in closed regime, imposed on corruption for corruption involving irregular contracts in BR Distribuidora.
According to the defense, the former president was arrested around 4 am, when he prepared to board for Brasilia, where he intended to voluntarily comply with the court decision. He is in custody at the Federal Police Superintendence in Alagoas. The information was revealed by the newspaper The globe.

Condemnation for corruption and rejection of resources

Collor was convicted of receiving R $ 20 million in bribes, between 2010 and 2014, to facilitate the conclusion of contracts between the BR Distribuidora – Braço da Petrobras – and the construction company UTC Engenharia. In return, it offered political support for the indication and maintenance of state -owned directors.
The Supreme Court had already denied declaration embargoes and yesterday rejected the infringing embargoes, the last appeal of the defense, which alleged divergence in the dosimetry of the penalty. Moraes considered that the appeal was merely delaying, which authorized the final judgment of the conviction and its immediate execution.
“The manifest inadmissibility of the embargoes, according to the jurisprudence of the Court, reveals the merely delaying character of the infringers,” the minister wrote in his decision.

Plenary session must endorse decision

The president of the Supreme Court, Luís Roberto Barroso, determined that the case be included in the virtual session of the plenary of this Friday, which runs from 11am to 11:59 pm. The ministers will evaluate the order of Moraes, although jurisprudence already allows the beginning of serving the sentence even before the publication of the decision, when there is misuse of appeals.
In addition to Collor, the Supreme Court also determined compliance with the penalties of two other convicts in the same process: Pedro Paulo Bergamaschi de Leoni Ramos, who will fulfill four years and one month in semi -open regime, and Luís Pereira Duarte Amorim, who received restrictive rights penalties.

The arrest marks a new chapter in Fernando Collor’s trajectory, who became the first president -elect by direct vote after redemocratization and was also the first to suffer impeachment in 1992. He returned to politics as a senator by Alagoas and remained in office until 2023.
The case of BR Distribuidora is part of the developments of Operation Lava Jato, and its conviction in the STF ends one of the oldest investigations against high -ranking politicians.