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Police find $16m in former cabinet minister's apartment

By BBC
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Brazilian police say they have made their biggest-ever seizure of cash in an apartment allegedly used by one of President Michel Temer's former cabinet members.

Police say they have counted more than $16m (£12.5m) in large-denomination notes found in the flat in the city of Salvador.

Former minister Geddel Vieira Lima is under house arrest.

Mr Temer is fighting a corruption crisis that has shaken his government.

The cash seizure was part of the police's Operation Lost Treasure.

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Mr Vieira Lima was arrested in July as part of of a corruption investigation into a government-controlled bank.

Prosecutors say he tried to block investigations into state bank Caixa Economica Federal.

The charge against Mr Temer came after a business tycoon secretly recorded a conversation with the president in an unofficial late-night meeting, which he revealed in May in a plea bargain deal with prosecutors.

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During the conversation, Mr Temer appeared to endorse the tycoon obstructing the investigation and bribing politicians.

Mr Temer has said the footage is authentic, taken from a meeting in March, but he has strongly denied wrongdoing.

His administration has been bogged down with a string of corruption scandals since he took over from former president Dilma Rousseff in a controversial impeachment process.

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