Leading political figures jailed in Brazil corruption case
Senior members of Brazil's political elite convicted of corruption charges begin serving time
Top figures found guilty in Brazil’s biggest corruption scandal turned themselves in to police on Friday, just days after the Supreme Court in Brasilia ruled they must begin serving their prison sentences, a blow to long-standing immunity in the country where the rich and powerful rarely face punishment for crimes.
The case involves a scheme that came to light in 2005 in which top aides to former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva paid off legislators so they would support the ruling Workers Party initiatives in Congress. Silva was never implicated.
Jose Genoino, the former leader of Brazil’s ruling Workers Party, and Jose Dirceu, Silva’s former chief-of-staff, were among those who turned themselves in.
Genoino was sentenced to nearly seven years for conspiracy and bribery. Dirceu got nearly 12 years for the same crimes.
In September, the top court weighed a technical wrinkle in the case and decided that defendants had the right to a new trial for the criminal counts for which they earlier received at least four not-guilty votes from the panel of 11 top court judges
