Brazilian Sports minister again on the limelight in spite of presidential support
Brazilian media reported more corruption allegations against the country's embattled Sports Minister on Saturday, raising the pressure on him to quit a day after he received the backing of President Dilma Rousseff.
Accusations that Orlando Silva took up to 40 million Reais (23 million dollars) in kickbacks to benefit himself and his Communist Party have embarrassed the government and risk complicating Brazil's already-troubled preparations for the 2014 soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.
The Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper said on Saturday it had seen documents showing that Silva's wife received public money from a nongovernmental organization controlled by members of Silva's Communist Party. It said the documents showed that the NGO had contracted a firm owned by Silva's wife and paid her 43.500 Reais for research work.
Another newspaper, Folha de Sao Paulo, reported an evangelical pastor as saying he had been pressured by Sports ministry officials to pay a kickback of 10% to the Communist Party on a public project to provide sports for needy children. The pastor, David Castro, said the project had been halted because he refused to pay the bribe.
Previous allegations against Silva have mostly come from a disgruntled contractor arrested last year in an investigation into allegedly illegal fund-raising by the Communist Party.
Silva, who has been Sports minister since 2006 and is the government's point-man for coordinating investments and infrastructure upgrades for the mega sporting events, has vigorously proclaimed his innocence.
Silva met with Rousseff on Friday for more than an hour to defend himself from the allegations. Rousseff said in a statement that her government would not condemn anyone without proof.
If Rousseff were to withdraw her support, Silva would become the fifth minister to step down this year. Four of those ministers have left over allegations of wrongdoing as the new president takes a tough line against corruption and a shortage of funds fuels rivalries within her unruly coalition.
Silva's departure could further complicate Brazil's preparations to host the world's biggest sports events at a time when the construction of stadiums and transport infrastructure for the World Cup in particular is facing criticism for slow progress and ballooning costs.
The resignations do not appear to have harmed Rousseff, however -- she bounced to a 71 percent approval rating in a September opinion poll, apparently gaining support from middle-class voters for her perceived tougher stance against Brazil's endemic political corruption
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WELL WHY DOESN'T SHE GET THE BLOODY PROOF?
EVERYBODY KNOWS IT EXISTS.
THE MORE SHE VACILLATES, THE MORE SHE EXPOSES HER WEAKNESS.
Why would she go after it if it will be delivered by the media, if there is any proof. So far there isn't any proof, but just “words out of the mouth”. A real leader cannot go by that alone.
EVERYBODY KNOWS IT EXISTS.
That's what you think, but you don't know either. Your ideology makes you behave like a buffoon that screems something where you have no proof of. Show people the proof and you nail him.
THE MORE SHE VACILLATES, THE MORE SHE EXPOSES HER WEAKNESS.
The more you type, the more you show how what kind of ideological clown you are.
But the President has the right to test the proposition of guilt in her Minister of State.
In fact she has the duty to test it because the man is a public servant.
Equally, the accuser should be mandated to put up the proofs.
Perhaps he HAS put up the proofs, and it is being translated into a judicial enquiry as we speak.
I do not fear for his life because the degree of publicity would immediately put the Minister in the dock for murder if he 'disappeared' or appeared but dead. But we have seen a Sao Paulo State mayor killed because he refused to be part of the corrupt group of money grabbers, so real danger does exist for whistle-blowers.
Dilma has an interestingly multi-dimensional problem in the sacking of HER ministers, etc.
She must show the people her power to 'ride the guilty out of town', she must be even-handed between coalition partners, and she must show support for her team such that they will support her.
Squaring these circles is a tough call.
My question is do these two papers take turns with Globo and its allies. Kind of like a crooked wrestling match in USA.
The daily allegations AND evidence of illegality is there for all to see, in Folha, on Globo and in Veja.
Think of the allegory of The Emperor's New Clothes in reverse - everybody can see the clothes=corruption, everybody feels it, everybody knows that PT made this government corruption nationally embedded into all processes of government and public administration.
You must be, like the Emperor, blind to reality to think otherwise.
Whether the PSDB opposition (Left of Centre, not Right) can reverse this remains to be seen, but they have to be voted in in order to try.
Show me the Right, Ultra-Right, Ultra-Conservative in Brasil - you think there are such political parties?
Those who chastize Rouseff for saying the government would not condemn someone without proof, she is right. It is the responsibility of the accusers to provide names, dates, facts and figures. Especially if the accusers call themselves journalists. These papers act like the notorious British tabloids, spouting rumors to foment suspicion and discredit, but people are getting smarter than that. Folhaleaks, for example repots rumors, unlike Wikileaks, which provides the damning documents. Me, blind? I think not.
As for you, I fear you must be a fan of this right wing rumor mill. But wishing doesn't make it so. Obviously, “everybody” does not know that the PT is wholely responsible for the corruption. It existed in Brazilian politics of the right long before there was a PT. Maybe the emperor has some clothes on and you prefer not to see them. The right does not always have to be well organized politically to undermine the progress made for all Brazilians, not only the elite. A biased, but influential media can operate subversively with ease, as they do in many countries. (Think of FOX news in the USA). When Rouseff stops firing ministers whose corruption is proven, then there is a problem, but as long as she continues in he present course, for God's sake, give her a break.
Re. PT - we both know that it is not soley responsible for corruption in Brasil. But PT under Lula made an industry out of it - like Henry Ford did for industrial processes, nothing could be the same afterwards. *Institutionalising* corruption means that you cannot run any government department or operate any public administrative function without some operations of illegality and the transfer of public monies illegally into private hands.
Whilst this might be the unspoken radical agenda of the 'workers' - to remove wealth from those with it by whatever means, legal and illegal, it does not square with the principles or practice of a democracy.
I make no left v right distinction; wherever it is present, corruption should be rooted out. And here I support Dilma.
I never thought she would be the one to grasp this nettle but, as she has, I will support her totally.
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