Brasília, February 17, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Both the government and the opposition in the Senate are counting signatures for the installation of a Parliamentary Investigation Commission (CPI) to look into accusations against the ex-undersecretary of Parliamentary Affairs, Waldomiro Diniz.
In the PMDB (Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement), which has the largest bloc in the Senate, the leader, Renan Calheiros (AL), held conversations yesterday (16) with his party cohorts. Calheiros opposes the installation of a commission. The PT (Workers' Party), which has 13 senators, meets today to define the party's position on the proposal for a CPI. The other parties (PSB, PTB, and PL) that make up the government's support base are awaiting the decision.
On the opposition side, only the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democratic Party) has defined its position: ten of the 11 senators agree on signing the petition presented by their colleague, Antero Paes de Barros (PSDB-MT). "We recommend that everyone sign the CPI," declared the leader of the party in the Senate, Arthur Virgílio Neto (PSDB-AM). The only PSDB senator unwilling to sign is Eduardo Siqueira Campos (TO). "This CPI would not be installed before March and would coincide with the party conventions for municipal elections. So, nobody is willing to vouch that this CPI will not turn into an electoral stage," he said.
In the PFL (Liberal Front Party), which has 17 senators, the indecision continues. The party was scheduled to hold a special meeting of its national executive council today to discuss the matter, but the meeting was cancelled late yesterday (16) afternoon. During the morning Senator Antônio Carlos Magalhães (BA) affirmed that he would not sign the petition, because he considers that there is no evidence of involvement by the Presidential Chief of Staff, Minister José Dirceu, in the accusations made against Waldomiro Diniz. ACM (as Magalhães is called) adopted the same argument as lawmakers linked to the Administration to justify his position. In his view the accusations refer to 2002, when Diniz was still not a member of the government and presided over the Rio de Janeiro official state lottery (Loterj).
ACM's remarks only make visible the division within the PFL. The party's leader in the Senate, José Agripino Maia (RN), contends that the government needs to act quickly to provide the legislature with convincing explanations, if it doesn't want to make a CPI the only way to demonstrate that nobody in the executive branch was aware of Diniz's activities prior to inviting him to join the Administration. "What we want cleared up is whether the PT knew of Mr. Waldomiro's involvement in these activities and appointed him anyway or was simply unaware of everything," he said.
Together, the PSDB and the PFL have 28 senators, one more than the 27 minimum required to open a CPI in the Senate. However, the PSDB will provide ten signatures and the PFL, in theory, 11. Of the 17 members of the PFL, 6 are expected not to sign: the three representatives from Bahia -- ACM, César Borges, and Rodolpho Tourinho -- and Senators Roseana Sarney (MA), Edson Lobão (MA), and João Ribeiro (TO). That makes a total of 21 signatures in favor of installing a CPI.
The needed votes would come from the adhesion of five senators from the PDT (Democratic Workers' Party) -- Almeida Lima (SE), Augusto Botelho (RR), Jefferson Pérez (AM), Juvêncio da Fonseca (MS), and Osmar Dias (PR) -- together with the names of Heloísa Helena (Independent/AL) and dissidents within the PMDB, such as Senators Mão Santa (PI) and Pedro Simon (RS). (DAS)
