MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil’s presidential candidate Rousseff seems immune to corruption allegations

Erenice Guerra, former Dilma’s “number two” was forced to step down

President Lula da Silva's chief of staff Erenice Guerra resigned over a corruption scandal that the opposition is trying to use to derail his candidate in next month's presidential election.

Ms Guerra, whose role as cabinet chief is an influential post in the government, had been under growing pressure in recent days to step down over allegations that she was involved in a kickback scheme for public works contracts.

The opposition is trying to link the scandal to the ruling party presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff, who was Lula da Silva’s cabinet chief before resigning to run for office.

According to Folha de Sao Paulo influence peddling claims hit the headlines of Brazil’s media following the confirmation from an energy firm that a company linked to Ms Guerra’s son was asking for a 5% of the credit to be awarded by Brazil’s Development Bank, in merit to Israel Guerra’s lobbying.

Representatives from the company EDRB in taped statements said they rejected the proposal and revealed that during the process they were received in an official audience by Ms Guerra at the time “number two” behind cabinet chief Rousseff.

They added that two months later they received a confirmation from Capital company linked to Ms Guerra’s son saying the loan for the development of solar energy in the northeast of the country had been awarded but they would have to pay a 5% commission for the lobbying.

“We refused point blank to pay”, said Rubnei Quicoli, EDRB consultant who was in charge of contacts with the cabinet chief number two and the company of her son. Quicoli statement was confirmed by Aldo Warner, an associate of EDRB and who has documentation to prove the claims involving Ms Guerra and her son Israel.

The main opposition party PSDB and presidential candidate former Sao Paulo governor Jose Serra immediately called for the resignation of Ms Guerra and for an in depth investigation to the whole process.

“Let’s put an end to all this government farce. We don’t want this crime involving the top leaders of the Workers Party, as has happened previously, to be swept under the rug”, says an official PSDB release.

The prestigious Brazil’s Solicitors Order, OAB, (bar) adopted a similar attitude and described the claims regarding the cabinet chief “as most serious” and called on the government to act, because “it questions the credibility of the administration”.

“You can’t talk of ethics, transparency and investigation if the minister remains in her job. She must be immediately removed so an effective investigation, with no possibility of influences, can be implemented”, said Ophir Cavalcanti, president of OAB.

However in spite of the scandal and the allegations Rousseff remains on course to win a majority of votes in the first round of voting on October 3 and become Brazil's first woman president. She has not been directly linked to any wrongdoing, which analysts say makes it unlikely the scandals will cut her lead.

“The chances that it forces a second round are still rather small. The opposition would have to be very skilled to exploit this incident,” said Amaury de Souza, a Rio de Janeiro-based political analyst.

“The corruption scandals so far didn't change voter preference except among those with higher education or income. That is insufficient to change the odds.”

Rousseff has 51% of voter intention against 27% for Serra, according to the latest Datafolha poll. The same poll last week showed Rousseff with 50% against Serra's 27%.

Rousseff has held and even increased her lead despite accusations, fuelled by intense media coverage, that the ruling party illegally accessed tax records of Serra's daughter and opposition members to gather potentially damaging information against them.

Riding on the enormous popularity of President Lula da Silva, Rousseff has been predicted by all major polls in recent weeks to win the majority of votes she needs to win the election outright and avoid a runoff on October 31. With null and blank poll responses removed -as happens with ballots in the election- Rousseff has 57%, the Datafolha poll showed.