Close aide and friend of President of Brazil arrested in case of corruption

Baku. 3 June. REPORT.AZ/ Former Brazilian lawmaker Rodrigo Rocha Loures, a close aide and friend of President Michel Temer, was arrested at his home on Saturday in a corruption investigation that also targets the president, Report informs citing the Reuters, a federal police spokesman said.

In a police video released in May, Loures was seen running out of a Sao Paulo restaurant carrying a bag with $154,000 in cash that prosecutors say was a bribe from the owners of the world's largest meatpacker JBS SA.

The Supreme Court authorized the investigation of Temer and Rocha Loures for corruption, criminal organization and obstruction of justice, triggering the worst political crisis since Temer took over from impeached leftist Dilma Rousseff last year.

During the conversation, Temer allegedly gives the order to pay over $ 630 000 to the former head of the Chamber of Deputies Eduardo Cunha "for silence" in the case of corruption around the oil company Petrobras.

Temer rejects the accusations and declares that he will not resign.