Iolando Lourenço
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Federal deputy José Dirceu (PT-SP) promised that he would present a "counter vote," refuting item by item the report and vote submitted by deputy Júlio Delgado (PSB-MG), rapporteur of the case calling for Dirceu to be deprived of his legislative mandate. "In my counter vote, I will unravel the rapporteur's case argument by argument, statement by statement," Dirceu told the press in an interview after Delgado's vote was read.

Dirceu said that he will attend the meeting of the Ethics Council on Friday (21), when the rapporteur's report and vote will be discussed and voted.

Dirceu insisted once again that he is innocent and will prove it. "There is no proof that I organized, participated, or was remiss about the monthly payment scheme, nor that there was a monthly payment scheme in this House," he affirmed, referring to the alleged vote buying scheme in which legislators were supposedly paid to approve projects backed by the federal government.

"I believe that the rapporteur's vote adheres to the principle of seeking proof to deprive me of my mandate; that is, first they condemned me, and now they are looking for proof," the former presidential chief of staff observed, claiming that "the report is untrustworthy: The rapporteur makes use of part of the depositions and documents and conceals the rest, such as the widely known fact that the banks (Rural and BMG) deny that I discussed with them the matter of loans (to the PT)."

Translation: David Silberstein