Brazil's Interim President Michel Temer Linked to Corruption Probe in Plea Bargain
June 15 2016 - 4:56PM
Dow Jones News
By Jeffrey T. Lewis
SÃO PAULO -- The fledgling administration of Brazil's acting
President Michel Temer was rocked by corruption allegations
following the release of plea-bargain testimony on Wednesday
implicating him in a sprawling graft scandal centered on the
country's state oil company.
Mr. Temer, who replaced Dilma Rousseff in May when she stepped
down to face an impeachment trial, allegedly asked the head of the
transportation unit of state oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA to
arrange campaign contributions to Mr. Temer's party in 2012,
according to a plea-bargain agreement released Wednesday by
Brazil's Supreme Court.
The head of the unit, Sergio Machado, said he organized a
donation of 1.5 million reais ($433,900) from one of his company's
suppliers to Mr. Temer's party, in exchange for giving the supplier
a leg up on winning contracts with Petrobras Transporte SA,
according to the plea bargain testimony.
Mr. Temer, who was Brazil's vice president at the time, told Mr.
Machado he was worried that his party's candidate for mayor of São
Paulo needed more financing, Mr. Machado said in the document.
Representatives of Mr. Temer couldn't immediately be reached for
comment, but he has denied the allegation in the past. Petrobras,
as the oil company is known, had no immediate comment.
Mr. Machado sought out prosecutors in the Petrobras corruption
investigation, known as Operation Car Wash, and offered to
negotiate a plea agreement after other people accused in the case
said he participated in the bid-rigging-and-bribery scheme at
Petrobras, according to a spokeswoman for the probe.
Wednesday's developments are the latest corruption allegations
to tarnish the administration of Mr. Temer, who has been Brazil's
acting president for barely a month.
Two of his cabinet members -- including the former minister of
transparency -- resigned from their posts last month in response to
allegations that they were working to subvert the investigation
into the massive graft scandal at the state oil company. Other
senior members of his Brazilian Democratic Movement Party,
including Senate President Renan Calheiros, are under investigation
in that probe.
"This news is another hit to Michel Temer and affects his
popularity, which is already low," said Carlos Melo, a political
science professor at São Paulo business school Insper. "But it's
not a surprise for public opinion because everyone knows Temer has
been in politics for a long time."
Luciana Magalhaes and Rogerio Jelmayer contributed to this
article.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 15, 2016 16:41 ET (20:41 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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