Cristina Índio do Brasil
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Rio - The secretary general of president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's political party the Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores) (PT), Raul Pont, declared that there is no seriousness, legitimacy or authority (seriedade, legitimidade ou autoridade) in statements made by the former PT secretary general, Sílvio Pereira, in a Sunday interview in the O Globo newspaper. According to Pereira, the objective of the so-called Valerio pipeline (a slush fund run by adman/businessman Marcos Valerio) was to collect US$490 million (R$1 billion) through four sources: Banco Econômico, Banco Mercantil de Pernambuco, Opportunity and agricultural sector liabilities.

"Without a doubt the opposition will want to heat this up again although I do not see anything new in what Pereira said. All this is just a lot of warmed over accusations that have already been dealt with in the CPI (Congressional Investigative Commission) and by government prosecutors. What Pereira needs to do is go to the government's Chief Prosecutor (Procurador Geral) or the Federal Police if he has anything to say," said Pont in an interview on Notícias da Manhã, on Rádio Nacional.

Pont went on to say that Pereira's mentioning president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; senator Aloísio Mercadante; the ex-president of the PT, José Genoíno; and former minister, Chief of Staff (Casa Civil), José Dirceu, as responsible for the party's activities, was only a reflection of the fact that all of them are members of the Campo Majoritário wing of the party that controls the PT.

According to Pont, "He [Pereira] and Delúbio [the former treasurer of the PT] were the people mainly responsible for the Valerio scheme. They have to answer not only to the PT, but to the judiciary for what they did."

Translation: Allen Bennett