Priscilla Mazenotti
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - On Friday (19), during testimony given at the Ribeirão Preto Sectional Police Station, the lawyer Robério Buratti said that the then-mayor of the municipality and current Minister of Finance, Antonio Palocci, received US$ 20.40 thousand (R$ 50 thousand) per month from the Leão & Leão company, which had a contract to collect garbage in the city. Buratti was Palocci's adviser at the time. The information was released by public prosecutor Sebastião Sérgio da Silveira, one of those responsible for taking the deposition.

According to Silveira, the middleman in the negotiations was Palocci's ex-secretary, Ralf Barquete dos Santos. "He [Buratti] said that the scheme was agreed upon with Palocci and that Ralf was the one who received the payments. Cash withdrawals were made at the Banespa and Bradesco banks, always with phony receipts purchased on the market. The receipts were provided by the beneficiary or the Leão company," he explained. "The deal was struck with company's board of directors, and Ralf used to go there each month to receive the money."

The prosecutor said that Buratti explained that the payoff scheme continued during the Administration of Palocci's successor, Gilberto Maggione, after Palocci left to assume the Ministry of Finance.

According to Silveira, the scheme also involved other municipal governments in the state of São Paulo, but there the form of payment was different. "In Ribeirão Preto, it wasn't a percentage, because, as he said, the price would have been steep. But in the other cities, the payment varied between 5% and 15% of revenues," the prosecutor explained. Buratti added that in Matão (SP), for example, the deal corresponded to 15% of the contract.

The prosector affirmed, however, that Buratti didn't know whether the money was sent to the PT's national board of directors in São Paulo. "He said that he heard from Ralf that Palocci ordered the money to be delivered to the PT's board in São Paulo," Silveira said.

On Thursday (18), the Public Defense Ministry entered into a plea bargaining agreement with Buratti, who may have his penalty reduced in exchange for disclosing information. "He is collaborating, spilling everything. And what he says is consistent with the other proof we possess," the prosecutor explains.

Translation: David Silberstein