Former Rio de Janeiro governor Sérgio Cabral, 58, confesses to having led a criminal organization that engaged in corruption, money laundering, and currency evasion.
Caught with around R$300 million in accounts abroad, with more than 150 jewels among his possessions and a mansion in Mangaratiba, he blames the "local media" for his stigma of being a corrupt politician.
"This Car Wash in Rio found a Christ figure in me. [...] The Federal Supreme Court decided that only one person should be arrested with a final and unappealable process. I am serving my sentence in advance," he told Folha in his first interview since being arrested in November 2016.
He is the only politician still imprisoned by Operation Car Wash.
The former governor attributes the accumulation of lawsuits (32) and (392 years) to the judges' resistance in granting him freedom or house arrest.
Cabral has four preventive arrest warrants against him. One of the release requests will be analyzed on Monday (9).
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon