Brazil’s Justice Minister Sergio Moro has resigned amid tension with President Jair Bolsonaro.<\/p>\n
Mr Moro, a former judge, had threatened to quit after the president fired one of his allies – federal police chief Mauricio Valeixo – on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Speaking on TV, Mr Moro said angrily there was no reason to sack Mr Valeixo, and called it political interference.<\/p>\n
Mr Moro is one of the president’s most popular ministers. He oversaw Brazil’s biggest-ever anti-corruption probe.<\/p>\n
Mr Valeixo’s dismissal was announced, with no further details, in the official gazette.<\/p>\n
Mr Moro had threatened to resign if Mr Valeixo were dismissed, but then said he would stay if he were allowed to choose a replacement.<\/p>\n
Brazil’s currency – the real – sank to a record low of 5.50 per dollar on Thursday, amid the political uncertainty.<\/p>\n
In mid-April the right-wing president sacked his health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, for his response to the coronavirus pandemic. The minister had advocated social distancing, which Mr Bolsonaro has scorned.<\/p>\n
Fighting corruption was a central issue for Jair Bolsonaro in his 2018 presidential campaign.<\/p>\n
The BBC’s South America correspondent Katy Watson says Mr Moro made a damning speech, accusing President Bolsonaro of meddling in federal police efforts to fight corruption.<\/p>\n
After announcing his resignation the sound of pot-banging protests rang out in cities across Brazil.<\/p>\n
Seen as an anti-corruption crusader, he was a star pick when Mr Bolsonaro asked him to join the government.<\/p>\n
Earlier Mr Moro oversaw a huge corruption probe which exposed billions of dollars in bribes and ended in the jailing of many powerful businessmen and politicians, including leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.<\/p>\n
BBC Americas editor Candace Piette says Mr Moro’s accusations against President Bolsonaro have thrown Brazil into an institutional crisis.<\/p>\n
He accused the president of trying to remove the federal police chief for no other reason than to secure intelligence on police investigations.<\/p>\n
Mr Moro also said President Bolsonaro had expressed concerns about supreme court investigations, without specifying which had caused concern.<\/p>\n
The court is currently investigating the activities of the president’s sons. It has also opened an inquiry into the possible financing of last week’s anti-democracy protests by supporters of the president. Both charges could further damage an already unpopular president, Candace Piette reports.<\/p>\n
Mr Moro once said he “would never enter politics”, but later agreed to serve in Mr Bolsonaro’s cabinet, in order to fight corruption and organised crime.<\/p>\n
He was promised full autonomy for his department, which united the justice and public security portfolio in a so-called “super ministry”.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"