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. File:Marinho correios escandalo.jpg File:Roberto Jefferson.jpeg 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. File:Waldomiro Diniz.jpg 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. 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 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. Raymond Colitt. "Brazil launches corruption inquiry" — Financial Times, May 27, 2005 "Brazil: Lula `calm` regarding scandal" — United Press International, May 27, 2005 Katia Cortes. "Brazil Opposition-Led Corruption Probe May Erode Lula's Support" — Bloomberg, May 25, 2005 "Ex-President Slams Lula Over Scandal" — United Press International, May 25, 2005 Andrew Hay. "UPDATE 2-Brazil Congress opens govt corruption probe" — Reuters, May 25, 2005 "Brazil: PTB stays in gov't despite scandal" — United Press International, May 25, 2005 "Brazil Opponents Say Gov't Should Confess" — United Press International, May 23, 2005 "Brazil: Lula allies back corruption probe" — United Press International, May 19, 2005 "Brazil looks into postal service bribery" — Associated Press, May 19, 2005 "Brazil: Opposition wants federal inquiry" — United Press International, May 18, 2005 "Brazil: Party denounces corruption talk" — United Press International, May 16, 2005 "Brazil real fluctuating on domestic uncertainty" — O Estado de São Paulo, May 13, 2005 "Brazil corruption charges urged" — BBC, December 15, 2004 "Lula's Cabinet Dogged By Corruption Allegations" — Global Exchange, August 9, 2004 Carmen Gentile. "Brazil's Lula dealt double disappointment" — United Press International, May 6, 2004 "Suplicy suggests that Dirceu appear before Congress to explain Diniz case" — Radiobras, March 5, 2004 "Minister of Justice says Diniz case will be thoroughly investigated" — Radiobras, February 17, 2004 "A party-finance scandal in Brazil" — The Economist, February 19, 2004 "Brazil reeling in wake of `Waldomiro Affair'" — Reuters, Taipei Times, February 18, 2004 "Brazil's leader in bribe trouble" — New York Times,Taipei Times, February 17, 2004 Larry Rohter. "'Bribe' videotape creates potential crisis for Brazilian president" — New York Times, February 17, 2004 Steve Kingstone. "Brazil's president sacks adviser" — BBC, February 14, 2004 "Corruption scandal in Lula ́s government" — Brazil Travel, February 13, 2004 "Governo é derrotado e CPI é aprovada" — O Estado de São Paulo, 26 de Maio de 2005 Marcela Rebelo. ""Não sabia que estava sendo gravado, diz ex-funcionário dos Correios" — Radiobras, 25 de Maio de 2005 "Após buscas, PF deve indiciar acusados de corrupção nos Correios" — Folha de São Paulo, 25 de Maio de 2005 "Entenda a denúncia de corrupção nos Correios" — O Estado de São Paulo, 25 de Maio de 2005 "STF aceita abertura de inquérito e Jucá será investigado pela PF" — Folha de São Paulo, 23 de Maio de 2005 "Rebelo defende cargos de Meirelles e Jucá" — Terra, 13 de Maio de 2005 "Fonteles pede abertura de inquérito contra Jucá" — O Estado de São Paulo, 12 de Maio de 2005 "Gushiken sai em defesa de Romero Jucá" — Folha de São Paulo, 25 de Abril de 2005 Ana Paula Ribeiro. "Apesar das acusações, Jucá diz dormir "tranqüilo"" — Folha de São Paulo, 20 de Abril de 2005 Ana Paula Ribeiro. "Jucá diz que não existem acusações contra ele" — Folha de São Paulo, 19 de Abril de 2005 "Lula critica insinuações contra Jucá" — Jornal do Brasil, 19 de Abril de 2005 "Ministro Romero Jucá apóia CFJ" — FENAJ, 28 de Março de 2005 "MP entra com ação contra Waldomiro Diniz" — Primeira Leitura, 13 de Janeiro de 2005 "Entenda o caso Waldomiro Diniz" — Folha de São Paulo, 22 de Fevereiro de 2004 "Morte de Celso Daniel completa 2 anos sem solução" — Terra, 20 de Janeiro de 2004 Andrei Meireles E Gustavo Krieger. "Bicho na campanha" — Época, 16 de Fevereiro de 2004 "Bingo scandal sees markets gyrate" — BBC, 20 de Fevereiro de 2004 "A pedido de promotoria, polícia vai reabrir caso Celso Daniel" — Folha de São Paulo, 5 de Agosto de 2002 "Propina à mão armada" — Época, 24 de Junho de 2002 "Irmão de Celso Daniel mantém acusações ao PT" — Folha de São Paulo, June 24, 2002 "Na rádio, Lula defende governo no caso Waldomiro" — Folha de São Paulo, February 23, 2002
{'wiki_source': 'wikinews', 'other_info': "{'content_model': 'wikitext', 'language': 'en', 'title': 'Corruption endangers Brazilian government', 'type': 'text'}"}