Posted on 04/05/2006 6:38:21 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BRASILIA, Brazil - A Brazilian congressional investigative committee gave its final approval Wednesday to a report recommending prosecution of over 100 people linked to a campaign finance and corruption scheme run by former members of the governing Workers Party.
The final panel report, approved by a 17-4 vote, had already cleared Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from any direct involvement in the scheme. It will be sent to the Federal Prosecutors' Office, which will decide whether to take legal action.
The probe report recommends prosecution against at least 18 members of Congress linked to the kickback and bribery scandal, as well as one opposition senator who had benefited from an irregular campaign finance scheme in 1998.
The report also cited former directors of the Workers Party as well as private sector operators and banks, who allegedly facilitated the distribution of unreported loans to government allies to offset campaign expenses from the country's 2002 and 2004 general elections.
The congressional bribery scandal surfaced in June 2005, when former government-allied Congressman Roberto Jefferson revealed the existence of a kickback scheme involving more than $23.4 million in undeclared bank loans taken by Workers Party officials with the assistance of businessman Marcos Valerio de Souza.
Isn't Brazil currently going left after years of being pro-right?
I thought that RR & GB1 had Brazil as a pro-democratic/independant/free enterprise type country.
Are we seeing the domino effect of Chavez?
Or is it that Central America is starting to get pissed that they come to us to pay for some new expensive idea which they think is going to solve the war-on-drugs, and American Government says "no way, we are fighting the war on terror in Iraq, we can't do that for you right now."?
I think with Chavez's help we could lose our control in Latin/S. America over the next ten years if we don't have a strong president.
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