Epress.am News from Armenia
The southern Brazilian city of Dourados has been left with a power vacuum by the arrests of all local top officials, police say, reports BBC News.
Mayor Ari Artuzi, his wife, deputy, and 25 other people have been arrested on suspicion of fraud and corruption.
Prosecutors accuse the mayor of heading a complex corruption racket. Artuzi’s allies reject the charges.
A judge has been appointed to run the city of 200,000 people in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
Prosecutors say Artuzi and his collaborators took a 10% cut of all public works contracts and used the money for election campaigns and to bribe other local politicians.
Among those arrested are the city’s councillors for finance and administration and a hospital director.
A spokesperson for the council said Dourados had been left in limbo by the arrests.