Brazil’s PSDB Chief Resigns Charging Government of Corruption

Brazilian Senator Eduardo Azeredo (PSDB, state of Minas Gerais) announced, Tuesday, October 25, on the Senate floor that he will resign his party’s presidency in order to defend himself "openly" against charges that he received money from advertising executive Marcos Valério during his gubernatorial reelection campaign in 1998.

"Notwithstanding my indignation and disgust over the cowardly attacks that I have been suffering and which are indirectly aimed at the PSDB, one of the chief opposition parties, I have decided to get a jump on the facts," Azeredo affirmed.

On November 18, the PSDB will hold a national convention to elect a new executive commission and president. In the senator’s view, his decision to withdraw from the presidency will confer "tranquility and concentration" on the succession process.

And it will leave the PSDB "freer" to combat the government’s "mistakes: "In this battle, which is of interest to all of Brazilian society, I shall remain firmly entrenched in this Senate and in my party."

Azeredo said that he believes he is being used as a "tool" in a "farce" to divert the attention of the Brazilian population away from the scandals involving the government and the PT.

"I will not allow my name to be used to conceal the government’s corruption. They picked me as a target because I exercised the presidency of the PSDB," he denounced.

In testimony before the CPMI (Joint Parliamentary Investigative Commission) on the Post Office, the ex-treasurer of Azeredo’s campaign, Cláudio Mourão, confessed to having received US$ 4.863 million (11 million reais) from Marcos Valério.

Azeredo said that he was neither aware of nor had he authorized the loan. And that he was informed of the debt a year after the campaign.

Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

Cover of Brazilian weekly magazine Veja

The Brazilian Dream: Getting a Job in Government

Becoming a civil servant has become once again the Brazilian middle class dream, according ...

Brazil Wants Digital TV That Will Cost Zip to the Consumer

Brazil’s Minister of Communications, Hélio Costa, will soon travel abroad to check on the ...

Bitter and Isolated Dies Anselmo Duarte, Brazil’s Only Cannes Winner

Brazilian actor, screenwriter and filmmaker Anselmo Duarte died at dawn this Saturday (November 7), ...

Brazil’s Exchange Surplus Close to US$ 500 Million in July

The Brazilian flow of exchange ran a surplus of US$ 491 million up until ...

Brazil Cuts Budget to the Bone

The Brazilian Ministry of Planning has just revised its estimates for GDP growth for ...

It’s Brazilian Hélio’s day! A Cinderella Story at the Indy 500

On a day that could never have been imagined the very foundation of Brazilian ...

Indians from 9 States Repudiate Brazil’s Indian Foundation

The 6th Meeting of Brazil’s Association of Indigenous Peoples of the Northeast, Minas Gerais ...

Soybean and Meat Give Brazil Record Surplus

Brazil’s agribusiness trade balance registered a record surplus of US$ 29.01 billion between January ...

Petrobras to Use Six Nobles for Its Deepwater Operations Offshore Brazil

Noble Corporation announced Friday, June 3,  that the Noble Dave Beard ultra-deepwater semisubmersible has ...

Brazil’s Army Chief Calls His Men Warriors of Peace in Haiti

At a ceremony honoring general Urano Bacellar, the commander of the UN Stabilization Mission ...

WordPress database error: [Table './brazzil3_live/wp_wfHits' is marked as crashed and last (automatic?) repair failed]
SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `wp_wfHits`