Eight Brazilian ministers under graft investigation asked to quit

The Brazilian Workers' Party (PT) on Wednesday demanded the country's public ethics commission to remove from posts of eight government ministers, who are being investigated by the Supreme Court for corruption.

A statement by the PT caucus in the Chamber of Deputies said that the eight ministers should be removed as quickly as possible for poor administrative conduct and violation of public ethics.

The ministers of the government of President Michel Temer are being investigated within Operation Lava Jato (Car Wash), which has already arrested dozens of politicians and business executives involved in the Petrobras corruption ring.

They are being investigated on suspicion of active and passive corruption, money laundering, and tender fraud, among others.

Last week, the Supreme Court opened investigations into the ministers and over 70 other lawmakers who were all named in confessions by executives from construction company Odebrecht as having received bribes or having used public funds to finance their campaigns.

According to Robinson Almeida, one of the authors of the statement, "there are very serious indicators that the ministers being investigated were involved in aberrant behavior."

The PT lawmaker said that the actions of the eight ministers "are incompatible with ethics and public integrity...they have lost the moral standing to exercise the functions they hold." Enditem