Bolsonaro beefs up new Cabinet

OFFERS: BRAZIL ASTRONAUT NAMED SCIENCE MINISTER

Top anticorruption judge set to take over as justice minister.

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil’s far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro set about staffing his new administration on Wednesday, naming an astronaut as science minister while a top anticorruption judge mulled a job offer.

Bolsonaro won the presidential race on Sunday, easily overcoming his leftist opponent with a vow to kneecap violent drug gangs and end years of political graft. He has also said he wants to roughly halve the size of the presidential Cabinet.

Bolsonaro, who nearly died from a stab wound while campaigning last month, donned a bulletproof vest on Wednesday and headed to the beach in Rio de Janeiro to attend an acrobatic air show in his honour.

The former army captain said on Twitter that Marcos Pontes, a Brazilian astronaut who was the country’s first person in space, would be his science and technology minister.

A full Cabinet will be announced next month, Bolsonaro’s future chief of staff, Onyx Lorenzoni, said in a private meeting, according to two people who heard the remarks.

Yesterday, Bolsonaro was due to meet with crusading anticorruption Judge Sergio Moro, who led the “Car Wash” probe snaring big names in political class and opening the door for Bolsonaro’s tough-on-corruption campaign.

Bolsonaro has previously said he wants Moro to serve as his justice minister and eventually join the Supreme Court. The court’s next vacancy is expected in 2020.

A columnist for Estado de S. Paulo reported on Wednesday that Moro would accept an offer from Bolsonaro to run the justice ministry with expanded powers over corruption and public safety, without citing a source.

However, two people with knowledge of the matter said that Moro had not yet made up his mind. Still, the Bolsonaro camp expected on Wednesday that he would join the future Cabinet.

“I believe Moro already accepted Bolsonaro’s offer and all that’s missing is for them to meet,” said a source close to Bolsonaro who asked not to be identified.

A third person said Moro’s conditions included the passage of new anticorruption legislation and expansion of the justice ministry’s responsibilities to include the federal police and the auditing office that roots out graft in the federal budget.

Moro, who oversaw graft investigations culminating with a 12-year bribery and money laundering sentence for leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has been cautious in public statements.

“In the event I’m indeed offered a post, it will be subject to a balanced discussion and reflection,” Moro said in a statement on Tuesday. – Reuters