Brasilia, Feb 19 (Prensa Latina) Diario Oficial de la Union on Tuesday published the decree signed by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who removed Gustavo Bebianno from the post of minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency.

Bolsonaro made that decision amid a crisis due to alleged financial irregularities in the Liberal Social Party (PSL) during the latest elections, and two months after he took office.

A recent investigation by the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo revealed that the PSL, of which Bolsonaro is a member, created a series of so-called orange candidacies (registration of women who do not win votes) to receive funds prior to the elections in October, when Bebianno was the leader of that organization.

According to the publication, the PSL provided 400,000 reales (more than 105,000 dollars) of public money to fund the expenditures of an alleged ghost female candidate for the Legislature from the state of Pernambuco (northeast), who won 274 votes only in the elections.

The expulsion of Bolsonaro's former right-hand man was confirmed on Monday by the spokesman for the Presidency, General Otavio do Rego Barros, in a statement.

'President Jair Bolsonaro today (yesterday) decided to remove Gustavo Bebianno from the post of minister of the General Secretariat. The president thanks him for his dedication at the helm of that ministry and wishes him success,' Rego Barros said in a brief message.

He noted that 'the reason for the exoneration is personal for the president'.

The same decree appointed Reserve General Floriano Peixoto for the post.