Brasília, 4/18/2006 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Wlicio Chaveiro Nascimento, the lawyer of the caretaker, Francenildo Santos Costa, says the Federal Savings and Loan Bank (Caixa) must pay damages to his client because it permitted access to information about his bank account which became public. According to Nascimento, the Caixa acted to "frighten" Costa and "induce public opinion to a false interpretation" (which was that Costa had been bribed by politicians).

Nascimento declared that under the country's bank secrecy laws, the Caixa had an obligation to protect Costa's bank account information. He went on to say that by making such information public Costa's dignity and honor had been harmed and he has been forced to change his residence regularly and is no longer able to live together with his wife and child because he now "represents discomfort and a threat" to the rest of his family.

Nascimento has filed a claim for damages of US$8 million (R$17.5 million).

Translation: Allen Bennett