Corruption endangers Brazilian government

From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Brazil — Denunciations of political corruption threaten the Brazilian government. The most recent case involves a deputy of the political party PTB (who supports the government of the Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva) in a scandal of the services of post office.

Lula's government representatives said that they will investigate all the denunciations and affirmed that the government is a victim of political enemies.

Post office scandal

File:Marinho correios escandalo.jpg

Mauricio Marinho speaks to press after inquiry of Brazilian Federal Police. Photo: Wilson Dias/ABr.
(Image missing from Commons: image; log)

File:Roberto Jefferson.jpeg

Deputy Roberto Jefferson (file). Photo: José Cruz - ABR
(Image missing from Commons: image; log)

Deputy Roberto Jefferson (PTB-RJ) is accused of directing a corrupt scheme that involves the Brazilian postal service.

The case began after Veja, a magazine, made known a 110 minute video tape recording which shows former Post Office Chief Maurício Marinho during a supposed bribe negotiation with a businessman.

In the tape, Marinho receives and puts in his pocket R$3,000 (about 1,259 USD) in cash. He insinuates that the scheme is commanded by deputy Roberto Jefferson. The recording was aired by the major Brazilian television stations.

A group of deputies mobilized to create a special investigation congress commission in order to investigate the denunciations. The Brazilian government tried to prevent the creation of the Congress' special commission convincing some deputies not to endorse the Congress investigations commission creation, however it failed. Now the government is trying to control how the special commissions works.

Other cases

Bingo's scandal

Waldomiro Diniz (left) and his lawyer, Luis Guilherme Vieira (right), leaving the Federal Police office. Photo:J. Freitas/Abr.
(Image missing from Commons: image; log)

Waldomiro Diniz, former adviser to the government of President Lula, is accused of negotiating with "bicheiros" (illegal gambling enterprises), traffic of influences and extortions of money for Workers' Party (PT) electoral campaigns. The case was known in 2004 after a businessman revealed a tape exposing Diniz. The Brazilian magazine Epoca published a history on the case in February, 2004.

The recorded audio tape by the businessman Carlos Augusto Ramos, known as Carlinhos Cachoeira, shows him supposedly being extorted by Waldomiro Diniz. The tape's authenticity has been verified by experts and it was aired by the major Brazilian television stations.

Waldomiro was an adviser of the Ministry of Civilian Household, directed by the Minister José Dirceu, and president of Loterj (which administers the lotteries of the state of the Rio de Janeiro) from February, 2001 until December, 2002.

Mystery in mayor's death

The ophthalmologist João Francisco Daniel, brother of the murdered Mayor Celso Daniel (PT) from Santo André, metropolitan area of São Paulo, said that the crime had political reasons.

According to him, some mayor's advisers were receiving bribes from businessman. The bribes were allegedly used to collect founds for the Worker's Party and for self-enrichment.

The Mayor Celso Daniel has been murdered in 2002 and until now the case has not been totally solved. At least six witnesses died in suspicious situations.

The Minister Romero Jucá

The Social Security Minister Romero Jucá has been accused of having offered seven non-existent farms as guarantee for a financing from the Banco of Amazonia, among other denunciations of misuse of public loans. The minister attributes the accusations to political adversaries.

Sources

English

Portuguese