Brazil's Justice Minister quits, accuses Jair Bolsonaro of 'political interference'

Brazil's justice and security minister quit on Friday as he slammed President Jair Bolsonaro for "political interference" in the federal police after the firing of its chief Mauricio Valeixo.

Sergio Moro, who gained popular support for sentencing corrupt politicians and businessmen as a judge, saidthat Bolsonaro "emphasied" to him multiple times that "he wanted someone who was a personal contact, whom he could call, from whom he could get information, intelligence reports" as a top cop.

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"And really, that's not the job of the federal police to give that information," Moro said.

In a speech at capital Brasilia, he also said: "The change at the head of the federal police without a genuine reason is political interference that harms my credibility and that of the government."

The Brazilian president called Moro's allegations "baseless", adding, "the appointment is mine, the prerogative is mine and the day I have to submit to any of my subordinates I cease to be president of the republic."

Brazil's chief public prosecutor Augusto Aras asked the apex court to launch an investigation into the allegations.

Last week, Bolsonaro also sacked his health minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who was in favour of isolation as a measure to contain the spread of the COVID-19. Bolsonaro has repeatedly spoken against the social distancing measures and downplayed the danger of COVID-19.

Brazil has confirmed 357 coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to as many as 3,670. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country stands at nearly 53,000.