Brazil to investigate opposition leader for corruption

Brazil's Attorney General Rodrigo Janot has asked the Supreme Court to authorise the start of corruption investigations against prominent opposition leader and former presidential candidate, Senator Aecio Neves.

Neves, has been accused of taking bribes from the state-owned electricity company Furnas, and the case is being linked to the huge corruption scandal that has rocked Brazilian politics over the past year .

Neves was defeated by president Dilma Roussef in the 2014 elections, but Roussef now faces potential impeachment after it was alleged she tampered with the budget ahead of the poll to hide the country’s deficit.

Neves’a ccusations are based on allegations made by Senator Delcidio Amaral as part of a plea bargain., after the former leader of the Workers' Party in the Senate, was arrested in November.

The BBC reports that Amaral was secretly recorded allegedly discussing plans to help a detained official flee the country in return for not implicating Amaral in a major corruption scandal at Petrobras.

Amaral was released in February after he agreed to testify against other suspects, and he said that Neves had received bribes from officials at Furnas.

The disgraced senator said that Mr Neves had received bribes from officials at Furnas, however, Neves continues to deny the allegations.