Former Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello was arrested early Friday morning after the country’s Supreme Court rejected his appeals and ordered him to begin serving a prison sentence for corruption and money laundering.
Collor, 74, was taken into custody at 4:00 am local time by federal police in the northeastern city of Maceió, as he travelled to Brasília to voluntarily comply with the arrest order.
His lawyer, Marcelo Bessa, confirmed the arrest in a statement and said the former president had intended to turn himself in.
The arrest was ordered by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who on Thursday dismissed Collor’s final legal challenges.
The court had previously sentenced the former president to eight years and 10 months in prison in 2023, following a conviction for accepting around 30 million reais (approximately $5.3 million) in bribes from a former subsidiary of state oil giant Petrobras.
Bessa expressed “surprise and concern” at the court's decision but affirmed that Collor would comply with the legal ruling.
Collor made history in 1989 as the first Brazilian president elected by popular vote after the end of the military dictatorship in 1985. However, his presidency was short-lived.
In 1992, Congress impeached him amid a separate corruption scandal—though he was later acquitted by the Supreme Court in 1994.
Despite his controversial past, Collor returned to political life, serving as a senator for Alagoas until early 2023, when he stepped down after an unsuccessful run for governor of the state.
The arrest marks a dramatic turn in the legacy of one of Brazil’s most controversial political figures, once seen as a symbol of democratic renewal and later tainted by scandal and legal battles.
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