Mensalão scandal

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Mensalão Scandal is the name of a political bribery scandal that took place in Brazil. Mensalão means a generous monthly payment for the purchase of parliamentary votes.

history

The Mensalão was the dominant scandal in Brazilian politics in 2005. The politician Roberto Jefferson (co-defendant in the bingo scandal) confessed that the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) a group of 18 MPs from other parties received 30,000 reais (approx. 10,000 euros) a month. paid to vote in favor of the party. The PT's ruling faction systematically tried to prevent the commission of inquiry from working. Jefferson accused Delubio Soares , PT's treasurer, of managing the payments. After the commission of inquiry was set up, the PT government put party functionaries at the head of the commission, some of whom had already been involved in corruption affairs themselves.

In 2005, Veja reported on a video showing a bribe being handed over to a politician. Seven years later, a trial began against 37 people, including high-ranking members of the ruling party Partido dos Trabalhadores , but not former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva . Its role is "still unclear and controversial today".

The entrepreneur Marcos Valério was one of the 25 defendants found guilty. He was sentenced to forty years and four months in prison, the highest sentence in the trial. Several prison sentences and fines have also been imposed. The judge Joaquim Barbosa achieved great notoriety because the process was conducted publicly and extensively supported by the media.

Waldomiro Diniz , advisor to the interior minister and four-time PT president José Dirceu , was taped into blackmailing bingo casinos and lotteries. The money went to the PT.

In the course of the investigation of this scandal, further bribery and corruption cases became known, which are summarized as Mensalão ( neologism for large monthly wages ). During the parallel investigations into the two affairs, President Lula dismissed the minister and stated that he was unaware of the scandal.

During the investigation, the finance minister's housekeeper, Antonio Palocci, told the press that he had observed the minister handing over money and celebrating with prostitutes . With no legal basis, the ministry broke the household's banking secrecy . A weekly magazine then received the information that the housekeeper had been bribed by the opposition to accuse the finance minister. At the same time, the ministry started a money laundering process against the housekeeper. As a result, it was found that the reporter responsible for the article was the son of an advisor to the minister, and that the household's accounts showed no evidence of money laundering. President Lula then dismissed the minister.

In the course of the investigations and court hearings, links to various criminal organizations were uncovered, and Lula da Silva's campaign manager confessed to having been paid via foreign accounts and with illegal funds from the scandal. The Mayor of Santo André (SP) , Celso Daniel , was shot dead during the trial in January 2002. The process is not over yet.

In the course of the events, several high-ranking PT functionaries were arrested, others resigned, including the general secretary Silvio Pereira , the treasurer Delúbio Soares , the party chairman José Genoíno and the cabinet chief Lulas, the “ gray eminence ” of the party, José Dirceu . Members of other parties are among the 22 who have resigned so far.

A total of 33 people were found guilty of this scandal by the highest federal court, the Supremo Tribunal Federal . Dirceu was sentenced in November 2012 to ten years and six months in prison and a fine of R $ 676,000 for bribery and the formation of a criminal organization. Delúbio Soares was imprisoned for 8 years, 11 months and José Genoino was imprisoned for 6 years, 11 months. The heaviest sentence was imposed on the advertising entrepreneur Marcos Valério: he was sentenced to 40 years and 2 months and 10 days in prison and a fine of R $ 2.72 million. His associates Ramon Hollerbach, Cristiano Paz and Simone Vasconcelos received 29 years, 7 months, 20 days and 25 years, 11 months, 20 days and 12 years, respectively, in prison. Kátia Rabello, head of the Banco Rural, received 16 years, 8 months in prison.

literature

See also

Web links

Commons : Mensalão scandal  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Post in the forum of dict.leo.org .
  2. ↑ Lukas Lingenthal, Julika Herzberg: The Mensalão Process and its aftermath , Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Bonn 2013, p. 3.
  3. ↑ Mariana Oliveira, Nathalia Passarinho: Do núcleo político, só Genoino deve cumprir pena no regime semiaberto , G1 (Globo), November 12, 2012.