“If you are guilty, you will pay”, says Bolsonaro about Milton Ribeiro’s arrest

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) spoke this Wednesday (22), in an interview with Itatiaia radio, about the arrest of former Minister of Education Milton Ribeiro that took place in the morning. Ribeiro was preventively detained, in Santos (SP), as part of a Federal Police (PF) operation that took place today.

“Milton’s case, as far as I’m aware, is the question he was having, he would be talking a little too informally with some of his trusted people. And then there was a complaint that he would have sought out the mayor, his people to negotiate, to release funds, this and that. And what happened? We pushed him away. If there’s a prison, it’s the Federal Police. It is a sign that the Federal Police is acting,” he said in an interview this Wednesday morning with Itatiaia radio.

“He is responsible for his actions. I pray to God that there is no problem. But, if there is a problem, the PF is acting, it is investigating, it is a sign that I do not interfere with the PF, because that is going to spill over to me, obviously”, he declared.

The president said he has no way of controlling everything that happens in his government. “I have 23 ministers, I have more than a hundred secretaries, more than 20,000 commission positions. If someone does something wrong, hey, will they blame me? Twenty thousand people. Of course, my responsibility is to step aside and collaborate with the investigation. You can be sure that this investigation, in addition to the PF, I do not interfere, it must have the Comptroller General of the Union, then yes it is my ministry, etc. And helping to clarify the case,” he said.

“If you are guilty, you will pay”, says president

In another part of the interview, Bolsonaro also said that if his former minister is found guilty, “he will pay”. “I’m sorry, the press will say it’s linked to me, etc., patience. If something is wrong, he will respond. If he’s innocent, no problem. If he is guilty, he will pay. The government cooperates with the investigation. We don’t condone any of that. Now, I don’t know how deep this investigation is. In my opinion, it is not that organic, because we have the compliances in the ministries. And any contract, any deal, does not pass,” he said.

The president also recalled complaints made during the Covid CPI, in the Senate. “Just like they tried, at the CPI, to say that I wanted to buy 400 million doses of [vacina] Covaxin. Gee, I didn’t buy any doses. I didn’t spend a cent. If I had, it wouldn’t be me. Who buys is the ministry. I have no way of knowing what 23 ministries buy,” she claimed.

Bolsonaro said the government has instruments to avoid irregularities and said he regretted the affair with Ribeiro. “It has our compliances. If anything happens, go upstairs. I’m sorry, I wish none of this had happened, but if the PF arrested, there’s a reason. And the former minister will explain himself. We pushed him away when he had to, when the accusations were made, so he could have more freedom to defend himself. I have no further information except, until just now, that former minister Milton was detained,” he concluded.

In March, the president defended the former minister from allegations of alleged favoritism towards pastors at the Ministry of Education during a live broadcast on the internet and said he would put his “face in the fire” for him. “If Milton had been setting up, he wouldn’t have put it on the agenda open to the public. Milton, I set my face on fire for him. They are doing cowardice. The Federal Police, yesterday I asked to open the procedure to investigate the case as well. There are people who keep honking: ‘Send Milton away, we’ll have someone to nominate here’. I doubt putting the name to the public, don’t do it because if it goes wrong it’s my fault “, he declared at the time.

Also during this Wednesday’s interview, Bolsonaro said that the federal government’s compliance system acts in each ministry “for you, if you are deceived by someone, or you want to do it, you will not be able to”. “So much so that it is zero corruption in our government,” he said.

Milton Ribeiro Prison

According to the PF, the “Acesso Paid” operation aims to investigate the practice of influence peddling and corruption for the release of public resources from the National Education Development Fund (FNDE), linked to the Ministry of Education (MEC) .

The preventive arrest warrant issued against Milton Ribeiro cites the crimes of passive corruption, malfeasance, administrative advocacy and influence peddling.

In addition to the warrant against the minister, 13 search and seizure warrants and four arrest warrants are being carried out, distributed across the states of Goiás, São Paulo, Pará and the Federal District. In addition, there are precautionary measures, such as the prohibition of contacts between investigated and those involved.

THE CNN tries to contact the ex-minister’s defense, but there has been no response.

*Posted by Marcelo Tuvuca