Marcos Chagas
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - The final report of the Joint Parliamentary Investigatory Commission (CPMI) on the Post Office was approved, yesterday (5), by 17 of the 31 members of the commission.

Prior to the vote, deputy Osmar Serraglio (PMDB-PR), rapporteur of the commission and author of the report, commented that he had not altered any of the "structural" aspects of the report, such as references to the existence of the monthly payoff scheme known as the "mensalão." The only changes introduced into the text he presented last week, he said, were technical in nature and didn't compromise the content.

On Tuesday (4), the PT presented a parallel report in which they rejected the existence of a "mensalão" to buy votes in the Chamber of Deputies. According to the party, what there was was a "caixa 2," a repository of unreported campaign funds. Since there was an agreement between the government and opposition not to vote the PT report if the Serraglio report was approved, the PT report did not come up for a vote.

The PT had also proposed removing the names of ex-ministers José Dirceu and Luiz Gushiken, as well as that of José Genoino, ex-president of the party, from the list of names submitted by Serraglio with a request that they be indicted by the Public Defense Ministry. Serraglio, moreover, asked the Public Defense Ministry to investigate 20 federal deputies and ex-deputies for involvement in electoral and tax crimes.

The PT bloc in the Senate is still considering an appeal to the governing body of the Senate to force a vote on the amendments and changes in the report. According to the government's leader in the Senate, Aloizio Mercadante (PT-SP), the president of the CPMI, Delcídio Amaral (PT-MS), disrespected legislative by-laws when he terminated the work of the commission without a vote on the amendments. As soon as Serraglio's report was approved, Amaral wound up the commission, which was installed nine months ago.

In May, 2005, the press aired footage in which the former director of the Post Office's Department of Material Contracts and Adminstration, Maurício Marinho, is shown receiving US$ 1.410 thousand (R$ 3 thousand) in a presumed bribe from businessmen and making reference to a supposed illegal collection scheme in government-run enterprises to benefit the PTB, presided at the time by deputy Roberto Jefferson (RJ). This was the incident that led to the creation of the CPMI on the Post Office.

At the time Jefferson, who was later deprived of his seat by his legislative peers, not only confessed that his party had received funds but also denounced the existence of a monthly payment scheme in which legislators from other parties that were part of the Administration's coalition base received money to vote in favor of projects in which the Administration had an interest. This "mensalão," a term coined by Jefferson, was collected and distributed by publicity agencies belonging to the advertising executive, Marcos Valério, in a sophisticated operation - which came to be called the "Valerioduto" [Valério pipeline] - that included accounts in foreign tax havens. These accounts have been under the scrutiny of another parliamentary investigatory commission.

Serraglio's report, which was approved yesterday, cross-checks the data from the two commissions' investigations.

Translation: David Silberstein