Luciana Lima Reporter Agência Brasil
Brasília – With the announcement, on Tuesday, October 25, by Supreme Court associate justice (“ministra”), Carmen Lucia, that the court will examine charges (“abertura de inquérito”) made by the office of the government’s chief prosecutor (“Procuradoria-Geral da República – PGR”) against the minister of Sports, Orlando Silva, the position of the minister was no longer sustainable and he resigned yesterday afternoon during a meeting with president Dilma Rousseff.
Silva is a member of the Communist Party of Brazil (“PcdoB”), a political party that has been a longtime ally of PT campaigns and administrations (Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff), and normal procedure would be for the party to nominate a substitute. However, according to the president’s chief administrative aide (“secretario-geral da Presidencia da República”), minister Gilberto Carvalho, in meetings on Tuesday night with the president of the PcdoB, Renato Rabelo, and the minister himself it was not possible to reach a decision on a name. Therefore, according to Carvalho, president Dilma is expected to appoint the second in commnand at the ministry of Sports, the executive secretary, Waldemar Manoel Silva de Souza, as acting minister.
Orlando Silva is the sixth minister to leave the Dilma Rousseff government since June, the fifth charged with corruption. Two weeks ago a military policeman, João Dias Ferreira, accused the minister of embezzling public funds from a government program (“desvio de recursos públicos”), Second Half (“Segundo Tempo”) that provided poor, at-risk children with sports equipment and activities after school in order to keep them off the streets.
The accusations of embezzlement (“desviar dinheiro”) from the Second Half program also include Silva’s predecessor as minister of Sports, Agnelo Queiroz, now the governor of the Federal District (Brasilia). Justice Carmen Lucia ordered the case against Agnelo Queiroz removed from the federal appeals court (“STJ”) and sent to the Supreme Court. According to the government’s chief prosecutor, Roberto Gurgel, there is an “intense relation” in the cases against Silva and Queiroz.
Following the meeting with president Dilma Rousseff, Orlando Silva told journalists that his five years as minister of Sports “…could not be tossed into a garbage can.” He declared that he was innocent of the charges of misappropriation of public funds and would prove it.
Link - Dilma deve nomear interino para lugar de Orlando Silva, diz Gilberto Carvalho
Link - PCdoB se reúne para discutir situação de Orlando Silva
Link - STF abre inquérito para investigar desvios no Ministério do Esporte
Link - Orlando Silva confirma saída do Ministério do Esporte
