The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has scheduled a trial for next Tuesday against Governor Cláudio Castro of Rio de Janeiro. He is accused of abusing his power to load the dice ahead of the 2022 election, when he won a second term in a first-round landslide.
Electoral prosecutors requested the impeachment of Castro, his lieutenant governor and the speaker of the state legislature, among other officials. They are accused of using public funds to illegally boost social programs in the first half of 2022 to bolster their re-election prospects.
They also allegedly used a public foundation and a university as fronts for the state government to hire thousands of political campaigners as temp workers and have them provide services for the accused’s campaigns on the public dime. Reports by news website Uol showed that these temp workers withdrew BRL 22 million (USD 4.08 million) in cash from ATMs late in 2022. This strategy has been used in other schemes in which participants seek to move money around while leaving a minimal trace.
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