(Bloomberg) -- Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro returned to Brasilia after more than two weeks in hospital to face a scandal involving his political party and a deepening row between his son and a cabinet minister.
As Bolsonaro recovered from surgery, his Social Liberal Party faced accusations it ran fictitious candidates in the last election in order to access public funds, a long-established form of corruption in Brazilian politics. Things took a turn for the worse on Wednesday when Carlos Bolsonaro, the president's oldest son, then accused one of his father's main aides of lying about the issue on Twitter.
Much of Bolsonaro's electoral appeal came from his promise of zero-tolerance of corruption after years of high-profile political scandal. While the president himself faces no allegations of wrongdoing, the questions over his party's conduct and the infighting between leading allies is souring the political climate as he prepares to kick off his legislative agenda. The government's plans for pension reform, considered essential for fixing the public accounts but politically unpopular, will only land in Congress next week.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bruce Douglas in Brasilia Newsroom at bdouglas24@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Raymond Colitt at rcolitt@bloomberg.net
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