<p>Brazil’s former President Fernando Collor de Mello is set to begin serving a prison sentence over a conviction on corruption and money laundering charges.</p><p>Collor, who led Brazil from 1990 to 1992 as the country’s first popularly-elected president after a military dictatorship, was arrested in the early hours of Friday in Maceio, capital of the Northeastern state of Alagoas, as he traveled to Brasilia to present himself to the police, his lawyer said in a statement.</p><p>His arrest has been ordered by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who rejected appeals to his 2023 conviction. The top court previously sentenced Collor to eight years and 10 months behind bars.</p><p>The former president’s legal team said in a Thursday night statement that it was “surprised and concerned” by Moraes’s order, and argued that the matter should have been determined by the full Supreme Court rather than a single judge. The rest of the court’s members are scheduled to hold a virtual vote Friday to confirm or reject Moraes’s decision.</p><p>Collor, 75, was convicted on charges that he had received 20 million reais ($3.5 million) in bribes from two companies associated with the Brazilian petroleum industry.</p><p>He will become the country’s latest former president to serve time since its return to democracy. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who previously held Brazil’s top job from 2003 to 2010, was arrested in 2018 and spent 580 days in prison before convictions on corruption and money laundering charges were annulled.</p>.Jair Bolsonaro ordered to face trial in Brazil for attempting a coup.<p>Michel Temer was detained for four nights in 2019 on corruption charges. Both Lula and Temer denied any wrongdoing at the times of their arrests. </p><p>Former President Jair Bolsonaro, meanwhile, is set to stand trial on allegations that he attempted a coup following his 2022 election defeat to Lula, after a Supreme Court panel unanimously voted to accept criminal charges against him in March.</p><p>Collor defeated Lula in a 1989 runoff election in which he’d promised to battle highly-paid civil servants. He took office in March 1990 and soon after announced an economic plan to contain inflation with controversial measures, such as the confiscation of savings accounts.</p><p>Two years later his brother accused him of corruption, allegations he denied but that generated large protests and led the lower house of Congress to authorize the start of impeachment proceedings. Collor resigned in December 1992 in an attempt to avoid the conclusion of the impeachment process in the Senate. The body nevertheless banned him from holding office for eight years.</p><p>He later served as a senator from 2007 to 2023. Collor ran for governor of Alagoas state in 2022 but lost.</p>
<p>Brazil’s former President Fernando Collor de Mello is set to begin serving a prison sentence over a conviction on corruption and money laundering charges.</p><p>Collor, who led Brazil from 1990 to 1992 as the country’s first popularly-elected president after a military dictatorship, was arrested in the early hours of Friday in Maceio, capital of the Northeastern state of Alagoas, as he traveled to Brasilia to present himself to the police, his lawyer said in a statement.</p><p>His arrest has been ordered by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who rejected appeals to his 2023 conviction. The top court previously sentenced Collor to eight years and 10 months behind bars.</p><p>The former president’s legal team said in a Thursday night statement that it was “surprised and concerned” by Moraes’s order, and argued that the matter should have been determined by the full Supreme Court rather than a single judge. The rest of the court’s members are scheduled to hold a virtual vote Friday to confirm or reject Moraes’s decision.</p><p>Collor, 75, was convicted on charges that he had received 20 million reais ($3.5 million) in bribes from two companies associated with the Brazilian petroleum industry.</p><p>He will become the country’s latest former president to serve time since its return to democracy. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who previously held Brazil’s top job from 2003 to 2010, was arrested in 2018 and spent 580 days in prison before convictions on corruption and money laundering charges were annulled.</p>.Jair Bolsonaro ordered to face trial in Brazil for attempting a coup.<p>Michel Temer was detained for four nights in 2019 on corruption charges. Both Lula and Temer denied any wrongdoing at the times of their arrests. </p><p>Former President Jair Bolsonaro, meanwhile, is set to stand trial on allegations that he attempted a coup following his 2022 election defeat to Lula, after a Supreme Court panel unanimously voted to accept criminal charges against him in March.</p><p>Collor defeated Lula in a 1989 runoff election in which he’d promised to battle highly-paid civil servants. He took office in March 1990 and soon after announced an economic plan to contain inflation with controversial measures, such as the confiscation of savings accounts.</p><p>Two years later his brother accused him of corruption, allegations he denied but that generated large protests and led the lower house of Congress to authorize the start of impeachment proceedings. Collor resigned in December 1992 in an attempt to avoid the conclusion of the impeachment process in the Senate. The body nevertheless banned him from holding office for eight years.</p><p>He later served as a senator from 2007 to 2023. Collor ran for governor of Alagoas state in 2022 but lost.</p>