"My sister is no angel": Waldo Nunez, jr."

Businessman Waldo Nunez, jr. has come out in defence of his sister, Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira, saying she went into politics because "she wanted to try to uplift the country.” The Diego Martin businessman made the comment in an interview with Newsday.

According to Newsday Nunez said the family warned her that politics is a "nasty thing". The paper quoted him as saying that his sister was determined to make a difference and to be an honest politician.

"When she got into office she told me, ‘I am not going to steal money. One thing I am not going to do is to steal money.’ That is not her way, that is not her,” Nunez told the paper.

“I always tell her, ‘Now that you are in politics you have to pray even harder. You have a lot of evil that will pull you down...We told her politics is a nasty thing, very nasty. But she wanted to do something for all of the people. That is her. That is her heart and her only aim...She is trying to do her best for the country,” he said.

He also spoke about contradictory statements his sister made with regards to her private financial matters. "I am not saying my sister is an angel, she is not a saint but she is trying to do her best for the country,” he said, adding that there's a false perception that the minister has took money illegally.

"How can people think that? She has her own money. She is not doing anything against the people," he told Newsday.

Nunez said he is not following the controversy closely but declared that it's all "hot air", adding that she is "a praying person."

He said the family would have preferred if she didn't get into politics. "You could only advise somebody, you cannot tell them. If that is how her heart is that is how she is. She not in it for gain...she did not go into it for that. She entered into it because she wanted to try to uplift the country,” he said.