Senator Who Led Opposition to Lula's Party Faces Graft Trial

(Bloomberg) -- Brazilian Senator Aecio Neves, who narrowly lost the 2014 elections to President Dilma Rousseff, will stand trial before the country’s top court on charges of corruption and obstruction of justice.

Five justices of the Supreme Court unanimously decided to put Neves on trial for allegedly receiving 2 million reais ($590,000) in kickbacks from meat tycoon Joesley Batista, according to O Globo and other media outlets. Neves has repeatedly said he committed no crime as the money was a loan and not bribe.

Neves, 58, is one of the high-profile politicians implicated in the plea bargain of the Batista brothers, controllers of JBS SA, the world’s largest meat producer. The accusations badly hurt the reputation of the man who, just three years ago, was one of the main leaders in the opposition to the Workers’ Party of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Tuesday’s decision comes nearly a year after the top court briefly suspended Neves from the Senate on allegations he was using his power to interfere in the so-called Carwash corruption probe. Neves eventually returned to his position after the Senate overruled the court but never regained the presidency of his Brazilian Social Democracy Party, from which he stepped aside after accusations against him surfaced.

To contact the reporter on this story: Walter Brandimarte in Rio de Janeiro at wbrandimarte@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Raymond Colitt, Julia Leite

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