Brazilian mayor gives new meaning to fund-raising

SAO PAULO, July 27 (Reuters) -- A Brazilian politician might have become a successful fund-raiser had be not been caught with a press and enough ink to make a lot of money, police said on Thursday.

Ezequiel Pereira Barbosa, the mayor of Correntina in the northeastern state of Bahia, was arrested at a hotel in Bom Jesus de Lapa city after the hotel's owner grew suspicious.

"Since the mayor was arrested here earlier this week with a counterfeit machine, some fake bills and a pistol, he has been moved to a clinic nearby with health problems," said a police spokesman.

Police said the cash-printing machine was capable of making about a million reais ($562,000).

The mayor's office had no comment on the matter.

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