Brazil’s Interim President Temer Implicated in Petrobras Scandal

The claims against Temer represent another heavy hit against his party and interim government. — The claims against Temer are another heavy hit against his party and interim adminstration.

EspañolA witness in Petrobras’ corruption case claimed that Brazil’s interim president Michel Temer asked for money to fund his political campaign.

According to documents revealed by Sergio Machado, former CEO of a Petrobras subsidiary, Temer asked for help in 2012 to fund the campaign of a candidate running on the Brazilian Democratic Movement’s (BDM) ticket.

Machado, who was CEO of Transpetro, claimed Temer needed money to fund the campaign of Gabriel Chalita, who was running for mayor of Sao Paulo. They agreed on BRL $1.5 million (US $428,500).

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Documents released by Brazil’s Supreme Court show the money has delivered directly by the Queiroz Galvao construction company to the DBM. The mentioned documents show that Machado was asking for “illicit funds for the companies that had contracts with Transpetro in the form of official donations to Chalita’s campaign.” The documents also contained recording transcripts between Machado and former president José Sarney, in which Temer is also mentioned.

“I gave contributions to Michel,” Machado said at one point in the recording.

The former CEO of Transpetro says that he illegally helped to fund campaigns of around 20 BDM elections, as well as several for the Worker’s Party, the Progressive Party, the Social Democratic Brazilian Party and the Democratic Party.

Last week, local press revealed Attorney General Rodrigo Janot had requested the incarceration of both the Senate’s leader Renan Calheiros, the suspended Speaker of the House Eduardo Cunha, the senator and former Planning minister Romero Jucá and the former presidente José Sarney (1985-1990)

All implicated civil servants are top BDM officials, to which the interim president Michel Temer belongs. According to the Attorney General’s office, these four tried to obstruct corruption investigations in the Petrobras state oil company.