Brazil's former center-right president Fernando Collor de Mello (1990-1992) was convicted by the Supreme Court of corruption and money laundering as part of the Lava Jato scandal.

Eight of the ten judges ruled in favor of conviction. The judge reporting the case, Edson Fachin, suggested a sentence of 33 years in prison, but this will only be announced on May 31st.

The first head of state to be elected by direct universal suffrage after the military dictatorship, Collor, 73, is accused of receiving 20 million reais in bribes between 2010 and 2014, when he was a senator.

Fachin considered that the former president used "political influence to facilitate the signing of contracts".

According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, around 40 payments were made to "irregularly facilitate" the signing of these contracts between a construction company and a subsidiary of the state oil company Petrobras.

The defense refuted all the accusations.

The investigation was opened as part of the Lava Jato scandal, which shook Brazil in 2014.

Collor de Mello governed Brazil between 1990 and 1992, when he resigned just as the country's Congress was preparing to conclude an impeachment process for passive corruption, a charge of which he was later acquitted by the courts.

He returned to politics in 2006, being elected senator for Alagoas (northeast), a position he held until the end of last year. (noam)