Brazil: Senator's sister charged with corruption leaves jail

Andrea Neves, the sister of Senator Aécio Neves—who has been suspended from office for allegedly receiving kickbacks from JBS meatpacking giant—has left the Women's Prison Complex in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, to serve house arrest. The benefit was awarded by the Supreme Court in a ruling that has also benefited two other suspects in the same corruption case, denounced by JBS whistleblower Joesley Batista: Frederico Pacheco, cousin of the Neves siblings, and Mendherson de Souza Lima, a former aide to Senator Zezé Perrella.

According to the Federal Prosecution Service (MPF), the three have facilitated kickback payments from JBS to Aécio Neves. Andrea Neves has been accused by the investigators of soliciting bribes of $2 million ($600,000) from Joesley Batista, owner of JBS, to be used to cover counsel costs. She is also accused of asking Batista for R$40 million ($12 million), which the defense denies has anything to do with bribery—it claims the money is related to the sale of their family's apartment in Rio de Janeiro.

Translated by Mayra Borges