PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Benedito Lyra
Benedito Lyra
Mayor of Barra de São Miguel
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; January 1, 2021
Vice Mayor	Floriano Melo
Preceded by	José Medeiros Nicolau
Senator for Alagoas
	In office; February 1, 2011 – February 1, 2019
Preceded by	João Tenório
Succeeded by	Rodrigo Cunha
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
	In office; February 1, 2003 – February 1, 2011
Constituency	Alagoas
	In office; February 1, 1995 – February 1, 1999
Constituency	Alagoas
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alagoas
	In office; January 1, 1983 – January 1, 1995
Constituency	At-large
Member of the Municipal Chamber of Maceió
	In office; January 1, 1967 – January 1, 1983
Constituency	At-large
Personal details
Born	May 1, 1941 (age 83); Junqueiro, Alagoas, Brazil
Political party	PP (2003–present)
Other political; affiliations	ARENA (1965–79); PDS (1980–85); PFL (1985–2002); PTB (2002–03);
Alma mater	Federal University of Alagoas (LL.B.)
Profession	Lawyer

Benedito Lyra (born May 1, 1941) is a Brazilian politician from Alagoas, member of Progressistas (PP), former Senator for his state and incumbent Mayor of Barra de São Miguel.^[1]

Biography

Lira is Bachelor of Laws by the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL). He began his political career as City Councillor in his hometown between 1966 and 1970, and later as City Councillor of Maceió for two consecutive terms, between 1973 and 1982. He was State Deputy from 1983 to 1994.

In 2002, Lira was elected Federal Deputy for the Brazilian Labour Party (PTB), and re-elected in 2006 for the Progressive Party (PP).

In 2010, he was elected Senator with 904,345 votes, representing 35.94% of the valid votes.^[2]

In December 2016, he voted in favor of the Constitutional Amendment to limit public expenses (PEC 241).^[3] In July 2017, voted to approve the new Labour Reform.^[4]

In October 2017, voted to maintain Senator Aécio Neves (PSDB-MG) in office, suspending the effects of the decision of the First Group of the Supreme Federal Court, in an investigation which he is accused of corruption and obstruction of justice after asking for R$ 2 million (US$ 600,000 in 2017) to businessman Joesley Batista.^[5]^[6]

Controversies

Ambulances mafia

Benedito de Lira was one of the involved in the scandal of overpriced ambulances, also known as "leeches".^[7]

Corruption in Petrobras

Benedito de Lira, and his son Arthur Lira, are investigated by the Federal Police in the scheme of corruption in the state oil company Petrobras. The Police found evidences of passive corruption after the conclusion of iopen inquiries to investigate the participation of Benedito and Arthur Lira. According to the report, Arthur and Benedito "benefited with the receivement of undue periodic amounts, from the payment of bribes by companies which had contracts with Petrobras, due to the control of the Progressive Party of the Directory of Supplies, office held by Paulo Roberto Costa, in exchange for votes in projects of interest of the federal government".^[8]

In February 2016, Lira had his goods blocked by the Supreme Federal Court, in a decision ruled by Justice Teori Zavascki, in a total of R$1.6 million (US$ 460,000) The request for the blocking was made by the Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot, who was responsible for the investigation against federal parliamentaries in the operation.^[9]