The links between Brazil’s speaker and a graft scheme

Brazilian House Speaker Arthur Lira got some good news on Tuesday: a Supreme Court panel unanimously rejected corruption charges against him. 

The charges concerned a 2012 case in which a former aide was caught trying to board a plane with massive amounts of cash on his person. Mr. Lira had paid for the plane ticket used by his former employee, and they were in contact on the day he was apprehended. But justices ruled there was not enough evidence to charge him.

After Tuesday’s decision, the speaker celebrated that “justice has been served” and said he had never been involved in wrongdoing in his 24 years in politics. 

But there is a new scandal involving another former employee that once again casts a shadow of suspicion over Mr. Lira — who became speaker in 2021 and has since amassed an incredible amount of power. 

Under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — who backed Mr. Lira’s re-election as speaker this year — the lawmaker has used his extensive powers to pressure the government and dictate Congress’s agenda, putting the current administration in some political tight spots. 

Investigations now targeting close allies of Mr. Lira reveal possible cracks in his power, and could potentially provide the Lula government with more leverage to regain the initiative in the lower house. 

Too close to home?

Last week, some of Mr. Lira’s closest allies in his home state of Alagoas were targeted by a series of Federal Police raids as part of a corruption investigation. The feds are looking into...