Rio’s governor suspended amid widening corruption probe involving Brazil’s pandemic response

RIO DE JANEIRO — The governor of Rio de Janeiro state was suspended from office Friday by a Brazilian court as part of a corruption probe into alleged kickbacks amid the state's disastrously chaotic response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The accusations against Wilson Witzel, a critic of President Jair Bolsonaro, was another blow to Brazil's leadership as it struggles with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic amid mounting suspicion that some officials have used it to line their own pockets.