Brazilian Supreme Court adds President on corruption suspects list

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BRASILIA: Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin has added President Michel Temer to a list of suspects under investigation for alleged acts of corruption involving construction giant Odebrecht, said a court document.

On Friday, Fachin gave the federal police 60 days to complete their investigations, reports Xinhua news agency.

Earlier this week, Brazil`s Attorney General Raquel Dodge had requested that Temer should be investigated based on new testimony, despite the fact that the constitution bars him from being charged for crimes committed before he became President.

Dodge and Fachin agreed that constitutional immunity applies to criminal responsibility, not to investigations.

The list of suspects also include Eliseu Padilha and Moreira Franco, both ministers and Temer's close allies.

Odebrecht executives confessed last year that they had paid bribes to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which Padilha and Franco ran between 2013 and 2015.

Claudio Mello Filhoa, a former Odebrecht executive, told investigators that the company agreed to transfer 10 million reais ($3 million) to Temer's Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, to gain an advantage in airport deals with the government.

Since this case began, Temer has denied any wrongdoing and said the measures had been finalized after a long negotiation between the government and the port sector.