Police target governor of northern Brazil state in probe of COVID-19 alleged fraud

Associated Press

SAO PAULO (AP) — The governor of Brazil’s Tocantins northern state has denied any wrongdoing, hours after the country’s federal police carried out search warrants targeting him and other 41 people as part of an investigation into alleged fraud and graft related to COVID-19 funds. Gov. Wanderlei Barbosa is a target of a probe into companies that supplied food kits under a government social assistant program between 2020 and 2021, a police source with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press. Gov. Barbosa says he is innocent and available to collaborate with authorities. He says he wasn’t responsible for the funds in question, as he was vice governor at the time. He was elected governor in 2022.