Guardian News and Media/Rio de Janeiro
The governor of Rio de Janeiro state is facing a political storm - and potential prosecution - after it was revealed that he used a state-owned helicopter to fly his children, nannies and even his dog to his weekend mansion.
Governor Sergio Cabral even used the luxury Agusta helicopter - bought for 15mn reals - to send a nanny to pick up some clothes his wife had left behind, according to news weekly Veja.
“We have already carried a hairdresser, a doctor, a surf board, children’s friends,” an unnamed pilot told the newspaper. “It is the helicopter of happiness.”
The governor also commutes to work from Lagoa, near his house in Leblon, to state headquarters Laranjeiras, by helicopter - a distance of just 10km.
Spending on a fleet of seven helicopters used by Cabral and senior state bosses doubled to 10moreals a year in 2012 from 2007, Brazil’s Estado de S.Paulo newspaper reported.
Federal prosecutors in Rio said they have sent a case for embezzlement involving possible misuse of public funds case to the capital, Brasilia, for consideration.
“He is in big trouble,” said David Fleischer, professor in political science at the University of Brasilia. But Fleischer said Cabral is unlikely to be impeached as he has a comfortable majority in the state assembly.
Cabral said that he saw nothing unusual in his use of state helicopters and that most of Brazil’s governors did the same. “Many even have aeroplanes,” he said.
But the scandal is another public relations disaster for Brazil’s political class - who were one of the main targets for the hundreds of thousands of protestors who took to the streets in June.
“While there is so much poverty here he is flying around by helicopter,” said Maria Santana, 38, a cleaner in Rio. “And he is saying it is normal!”
According to a new Transparency International survey, 81% of Brazilians think their political parties are affected by corruption.
The chamber of deputies president, Henrique Alves, is being investigated for using a Brazilian air force jet to fly relatives to the Confederations Cup final in Rio.
Cabral was repeatedly a target at the demonstrations in Rio. Protesters camped outside his house in the upmarket beach district of Leblon until police evicted them.
A plebiscite on political reform proposed by President Dilma Rouuseff in answer to the protests now seems unlikely to happen in time for the 2014 elections. Instead the chamber of deputies decided to set up a working group to study a political reform project, which could then be voted on in a plebiscite. “They have appointed a commission to look at it for 90 days. That’s how you bury things in Brazil,” said Fleischer. “They don’t want to change the system that has elected them for years.”