Brazil money launderer testifies former presidential candidate took bribe

Reuters
Presidential candidate Aecio Neves of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) arrives to give a speech after learning the results of the Brazil general elections in Belo Horizonte, October 26, 2014. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Convicted Brazilian money launderer Alberto Youssef testified to lawmakers at a congressional hearing on corruption on Tuesday that former opposition presidential candidate Aecio Neves took bribes from a corruption scheme involving Furnas, a subsidiary of state-run power utility Eletrobras. In March, Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot closed an investigation into Neves and Furnas, removing the senator's name from a list of dozens of politicians under investigation for taking bribes. At the time, Neves, a senator for Brazil's main opposition party who narrowly lost the 2014 election to President Dilma Rousseff, blamed the government for trying to ensnare him in a scandal. (Reporting by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Alan Crosby)