Lílian de Macedo, Liésio Pereira and Lourenço Melo
Reporters Agência Brasil

Brasília – In testimony yesterday before the Ethics Council of the Chamber of Deputies (Conselho de Ética e Decoro Parlamentar da Câmara dos Deputados), the president of the PTB, Roberto Jefferson, declared that the PT gave him R$4 million (US$1.64 million) for 2004 election campaign expenses. According to Jefferson, the money was given to him by Marcos Valerio, an ad man. Jefferson said that Valerio was one of the people who distributed the "monthly allowance" given to some members of congress. Meanwhile, the president of the PT, Jose Genoino, denied the charge.

"I received the money as a private citizen, not as president of the PTB. I have no wish to involve my party in this. I am testifying as the citizen, Roberto Jefferson," declared the deputy.

But, according to deputy Joao Pizzolato (PP/SC), by confessing that he received the money Jefferson is admitting he committed a crime. "That is an electoral crime. Why didn't he denounce this when it happened?" asked Pizzolato.

Deputy Gustavo Fruet, a member of the opposition PSDB/PR, says that what Jefferson declared should be investigated. "He told us how much money was involved, who was involved and gave us dates, as well. That is something we must look into. He is member of Congress with parliamentary immunity who is making accusations. He will have to prove what he is saying."

Meanwhile, in São Paulo, the president of the PT, Jose Genoino, met with the press and denied the accusations made by Jefferson. He promised to prove that the party did no wrong. "We are going to defend ourselves in Congress and in court, if necessary. What Jefferson did was make the same accusations publicly for the third time. And he presented nothing new, no proof. This is not acceptable," declared Genoino.

The reason Jefferson testified before the Ethics Commission yesterday was because he was cited in a video tape as the leader of kickback scheme involving government contracts. When the tape became public he went on the attack, accusing the PT of paying monthly allowances to members of the PP and PL, parties allied with the government, so they would vote with the government. In his testimony yesterday, Jefferson declared that PL deputies Sandro Mabel, Bispo Rodrigues and Valdemar Costa Neto (the latter is president of the PL), and PP deputies Pedro Correa and Jose Janene, were all aware of the monthly allowance scheme. "They knew about it and distributed the money," charged Jefferson.

Translator: Allen Bennett