Brasília, 2/17/2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Presidential Chief of Staff (ministro-chefe da Casa Civil), José Dirceu, says that the government acted quickly and decisively in responding to the charge of graft involving the former deputy head of Congressional Liaison, Waldomiro Diniz.

A video tape was made of Diniz asking a numbers game kingpin, known as Charlie Waterfall, to make contributions to election campaigns and other payoffs.

Dirceu explained that the incident occurred in 2002, that is, before the present administration took office. The incident also occurred in Rio de Janeiro. He pointed out that the present administration is not in any way or form involved in the case. And he added that it is now being investigated by the proper authorities. (AB)