Aug 4 Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva, the former chief executive of Brazil’s nuclear power company Eletronuclear, was sentenced to serve 43 years in prison by a Rio de Janeiro judge late on Wednesday, the Valor Economico newspaper reported.
Court and government officials in Rio were on local holiday Thursday in celebration of the Olympic torch arriving to kick off the games.
Silva, considered the father of Brazil’s nuclear program and a pillar of the military-industrial establishment, was convicted of corruption, money laundering, organized crime and obstruction of justice, in the latest chapter of the country’s historic Operation Car Wash investigation.
The 43-year sentence is considered relatively harsh, although Silva, like most white-collar criminals in Brazil, is only likely to spend as little as a sixth of his sentence behind bars before being released.
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