Former Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello has been taken into custody following a ruling by the country’s top court that confirmed his prison sentence for corruption and money laundering. The decision, delivered on Friday, April 25, 2025, marks another chapter in Brazil’s ongoing struggle with political corruption at the highest levels of government.
Collor, who served as Brazil’s first democratically elected president after the end of military rule, was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison. The 75-year-old politician was arrested in Brazil’s northeastern region, according to a police source who spoke to AFP under the condition of anonymity.
The Supreme Federal Court rejected Collor’s final attempt to overturn the arrest order on Thursday, clearing the way for law enforcement to detain him.
The charges against Collor stem from allegations that he accepted illicit payments to unlawfully facilitate contracts between a construction firm and BR Distribuidora, a former subsidiary of the state-run oil giant Petrobras. Prosecutors said the former leader used his political influence to secure the deals in exchange for financial kickbacks, a practice that has plagued Brazil’s public institutions for years.
Collor’s downfall is not without historical precedent. Elected in 1989, he took office in 1990 but was forced to resign just two years later in 1992 amid a massive corruption scandal that led Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings. At the time, he stepped down in an effort to avoid a formal conviction, though his political career never fully recovered.
His conviction adds him to a growing list of Brazilian presidents who have faced legal trouble in recent decades. Of the seven presidents who have governed Brazil since the end of the military dictatorship in 1985, four have now been impeached, convicted, or jailed.
In a separate ongoing case, former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro is facing trial over allegations of orchestrating a coup attempt following his loss in the 2022 presidential election. This trend of legal accountability underscores the persistent tension between Brazil’s political elite and its judicial institutions.
