This material belongs to: Xinhua.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) — In the latest development of corruption investigation in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Adriana Ancelmo, the wife of former governor Sergio Cabral, was put in jail on Thursday over corruption charges.
She was previously put under house arrest which her defense managed to get her given that her children are minors and that her husband is in jail.
However, the court canceled the house arrest and ordered her to serve imprisonment, blaming her failure to care for children’s wellbeing when she engaged in criminal activities and got involved in a huge corruption scheme her husband commanded.
Ancelmo was found guilty in one case of corruption, sentenced to 18 years of prison, and is facing several more charges.
Her husband is currently serving a 45-year prison sentence for corruption, while being indicted for a dozen other similar cases.
According to the authorities, Cabral and his accomplices took bribes and embezzled public money for years. The state of Rio de Janeiro declared a state of fiscal calamity last year. It has delayed payment of public servants’ wages, and is suffering huge debts and an empty wallet for public investment.
Cabral is not the only Rio governor who stepped down over corruption. The same has happened to two of his predecessors. Incumbent governor Luiz Fernando Pezao is also under investigation over corruption.
