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Brazil's tourism minister steps down amid corruption allegations

Xinhua, June 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

Brazil's Tourism Minister Henrique Alves stepped down on Thursday after getting embroiled in corruption allegations.

The resignation of Alves, one of the most experienced leaders of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), was accepted by interim President Michel Temer. Prior to this, Planning Minister Romero Juca and Transparency Minister Fabiano Silveira also stepped down for similar reasons.

Earlier this month, Temer said any member of his cabinet named in a corruption investigation would have to step down.

In his confessions to judicial investigators, Sergio Machado, former president of state-owned Transpetro, said he paid bribes to Alves worth 1.55 million reais (435,000 U.S. dollars).

According to Machado, the bribes were made as official campaign donations although they actually came from illicit supplier contracts as part of the Petrobras corruption ring.

Machado's denunciations have placed much of the PMDB leadership under suspicion, including Temer himself.

At a press conference Thursday, Temer said the accusation made against him, namely that he used illicit funds to support PMDB electoral campaigns in Sao Paulo in 2012, was "a criminal lie."

Analysts said PMDB leaders might hope that Alves' departure from the government will buy them some time from investigators. Endit