|
Pure Fantasy, Says Brazil Government to Charges of Cuba Interference in the Elections |
|
|
|
|
Written by Nelson Motta
|
|
Monday, 31 October 2005 |
|
"As on other occasions, the speculations published in the weekly magazine Veja, distributed on Sunday, October 30, represent nothing more than an illusion," affirmed Brazil's Minister of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations, Jaques Wagner, via his staff.
Wagner denied that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's election campaign in 2002 had received cash contributions from Cuba.
According to the minister, "the contributions and expenses for the 2002 presidential campaign were reported with transparency by the party coalition that backed Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's candidacy."
In an interview with the news weekly, Veja, two advisers to the municipal government of Ribeirão Preto, a city in the interior of the state of São Paulo, during the mayoralty of the current minister of Finance, Antonio Palocci, declared having heard that the Cuban government sent money for Lula's campaign in 2002.
One of the ex-advisers, Rogério Buratti, said he was approached by Ralf Barquete, finance secretary in Palocci's government. According to Buratti, Barquete was looking for a way to bring US$ 3 million from Cuba.
"I know that the money arrived, but I don't know how," Buratti affirmed, according to the magazine. Barquete died last year.
The other ex-adviser, Vladimir Poleto, stated that he had transported three cases of liquor with him on a flight from Brasília to Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo. There he delivered them to Barquete, who reportedly commented that the cases contained US$ 1.4 million.
Agência Brasil
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
..... Minister Wagner voluntarily forgets....that some Veja's magazine articles.....namely on corruption and vote buying scandals......were in fact TRUE !!!!
Smile.....