Police have arrested the former governor of Rio de Janeiro state for "allegedly extracting bribes over civil works projects" including the $500M renovation of Brazil’s home of football, the Maracanã stadium, for the 2014 World Cup, according to Joe Leahy of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The arrest of Sérgio Cabral on Thursday "was made as the Rio state government faces mounting protests from public servants to a proposed austerity package to save the public finances." Rio state’s fiscal position "is collapsing under the worst recession to hit Brazil in a century." A court order read, "The investigations under way suggest ... that the subject under investigation, Sérgio Cabral, in the exercise of his position as governor of Rio de Janeiro state, solicited and obtained bribes from a range of large projects." Cabral was "unavailable for comment." His alleged misconduct in the Maracanã project "will infuriate Brazilians who protested en masse in 2013 against the holding of the World Cup amid concern that it was a waste of public money in a country lacking adequate public health, education and security services" (FT, 11/17).
