UPDATE 3-Brazil's anti-corruption minister quits over leaked recordings

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Tue May 31, 2016 5:22am IST
Related: Regulatory News

UPDATE 3-Brazil's anti-corruption minister quits over leaked recordings

By Anthony Boadle and Lisandra Paraguassu

May 30 Brazil's Transparency Minister Fabiano Silveira resigned on Monday after leaked recordings suggested he tried to derail a sprawling corruption probe, the latest cabinet casualty impacting interim President Michel Temer's administration.

Silveira, the man Temer tasked with fighting corruption since he took office on May 12, announced his plans to step down in a letter, according to the presidential palace's media office. No replacement for Silveira has yet been named.

Silveira and Senate President Renan Calheiros became the latest officials ensnared by leaked recordings secretly made by a former oil industry executive as part of a plea bargain. The same tapes led to the resignation last week of Romero Jucá, whom Temer had named as planning minister.

Jucá's resignation dealt a blow to Temer's efforts to build a stable government in the wake of the May 12 suspension of leftist President Dilma Rousseff.


Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/brazil-corruption-idINL1N18R0FX

[Judi Lynn]

1. Second minister in new Brazil government quits

Second minister in new Brazil government quits

5 hours ago


[font size=1]
Mr Silveira was named anti-corruption minister by Mr Temer
[/font]
Leaked recordings made by former Senator Sergio Machado appear to back Ms Rousseff's allegation.

Mr Machado, who used to run a Petrobras-owned logistics company, recorded the conversations as part of a plea deal with Operation Car Wash prosecutors.

In the latest recording to be broadcast on TV, Mr Silveira can be heard criticising the prosecutors saying they were "totally lost". He also seems to advise Senate Speaker Renan Calheiros and Mr Machado on how best to defend themselves from Operation Car Wash.

The recording was made three months before Mr Silveira became anti-corruption minister.

More:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36414882

[L. Coyote]

2. This is big news, another note of optimism in a dark time for Brazil.

If the impeachment does not falter now, everyone siding with the rightist is really corrupt.

[L. Coyote]

3. OAS Threatens to Suspend Venezuela While Ignoring Recent Ouster of Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff

OAS Threatens to Suspend Venezuela While Ignoring Recent Ouster of Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff

The Organization of American States has announced it will hold an emergency meeting to discuss whether to suspend Venezuela for violating the OAS Charter. OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said Tuesday that Venezuela had suffered "grave alterations of democratic order." But supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro have criticized the OAS for targeting Venezuela, not Brazil, where democratically elected President Dilma Rousseff was recently removed from power in what many have described as a coup. To talk more about the situation in Venezuela and the actions of the OAS, we speak to Venezuela’s ambassador to the OAS, Bernardo Álvarez.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, as we turn to Latin America. The Organization of American States has announced it will hold an emergency meeting to discuss whether one of its member nations should be suspended for violating the OAS’s Democratic Charter. But you may be surprised by what country is being targeted. It’s not Brazil, where the democratically elected President Dilma Rousseff was recently removed from power in what many have described as a coup. Instead, the OAS is going after Venezuela, which is in the midst of its worst economic crisis in years.

OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said Tuesday Venezuela had suffered, quote, "grave alterations of democratic order." In a letter, Almagro criticized the government of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, writing, quote, "They have forgotten to defend the general and collective long-term good, over short-term individual gain ... Immoral politics loses this vision because its only interest is staying in power." The OAS secretary general, Almagro, also accused Maduro of disrupting democracy by blocking the opposition-controlled Congress and putting loyalists in the Supreme Court.

The move by the OAS to seek suspension of a democratically elected government is unprecedented. In the past, the Democratic Charter has only been invoked following coups, most recently in Honduras after the 2009 coup against Mel Zelaya, the democratically elected president. On Tuesday, the Venezuelan president, Maduro, criticized the OAS for intervening in Venezuelan politics. .................

[L. Coyote]

4. An End to Impunity for Dictators—and Their Backers—Makes the World Safer

An End to Impunity for Dictators—and Their Backers—Makes the World Safer
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/6/2/an_end_to_impunity_for_dictators

By Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan

It was a bad week for dictators, and a good one for international justice. Two brutal, U.S.-backed dictators who ruled decades ago were convicted for crimes they committed while in power. Hissene Habre took control of the northern African nation of Chad in 1982, and unleashed a reign of terror against his own people, killing at least 40,000 of them, until he was deposed in 1990. Reynaldo Bignone was a general in the Argentinian military, and was the last dictator of the military junta that ruled that country from 1976 to 1983, the period known as “The Dirty War,” when an estimated 30,000 dissidents were “disappeared,” i.e., killed. Both men will most likely spend the rest of their lives in prison. These verdicts won’t bring back the tens of thousands they tortured and killed, but, hopefully, they will hasten the end of the modern era of impunity for human-rights abusers and their allies.

Bignone’s guilty verdict for his role in the transnational “Operation Condor” conspiracy was not his first. He was one of the Argentine generals who overthrew that country’s government in 1976. Bignone took a lead role in setting up and running several of the hundreds of secret detention centers where people suspected of communist or left-wing sympathies were taken and, in most cases, tortured, then killed. Argentina in those years was led by a succession of military dictators, with Bignone being the last in the line, ruling from 1982 to 1983. Bignone oversaw the destruction of documents and other evidence that might have implicated him and his fellow junta members in human-rights abuses and crimes against humanity, and also granted blanket immunity to himself and others, protecting them from future prosecution. Eventually, the amnesty was overturned, and Bignone was convicted in 2010 for the rampant kidnapping, torture and murder he oversaw.

Bignone’s most recent guilty verdict was for his role in Operation Condor, in which six U.S.-backed South American dictatorships—Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay—conspired to track down and kidnap or kill dissidents anywhere in the world. Bignone, 88, now has an additional 20 years added to the life sentence he is currently serving. Operation Condor was coordinated out of Chile, then under dictator Augusto Pinochet, and with the knowledge of the U.S. government, and in particular, then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. ............

[L. Coyote]

5. Cunha Gives the Orders and the Temer Administration Will Have to Kneel, Says Rousseff

Cunha Gives the Orders and the Temer Administration Will Have to Kneel, Says Rousseff

Do you really believe that you will return?

We can reverse the situation. In that occasion, many senators voting for the admissibility [of the impeachment process] said that they were not deciding on the merit [of the accusations, which would be analyzed later]. So, yes, I believe I will return.

Especially because the real reasons for the impeachment are becoming clearer. And they have nothing to do with the six executive orders or the Safra Plan [measures that were considered impeachable offenses].

Are you talking about the phone conversations recorded by the former president of Transpetro, Sérgio Machado, with Senators Romero Jucá and Renan Calheiros as well as with former president José Sarney?

I read all three [conversations]. They show that the real cause of my impeachment was an attempt to block the Brazilian Federal Police's Lava Jato operation. This attempt was made by those who believed that, if the government didn't fall, the "bleeding" would continue. ................

[Judi Lynn]

6. Interesting to learn that Cunha is more powerful than our corporate "news" media care to share.

Hope he's not powerful enough to control the investigation ongoing into his colossal corruption.

Dilma has been known for her courage for decades. Best wishes to Dilma Rousseff.

Thank you for these links.

[L. Coyote]

7. Telesur from May 30: Brazil Coup Plotters Sought Protection from Corruption Probe

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/New-Leak-Brazil-Politicians-Sought-Corruption-Probe-Shield-20160530-0011.html

New Leak: Brazil Coup Plotters Sought Protection from Corruption Probe

Brazil's minister in charge of transparency and accountability within the coup government plotted with a prominent opposition figure to protect corrupt officials from facing investigation ....

This is the fourth major leak to burst onto Brazil’s political scene in a week, offering damning evidence of the motives behind the government of Michel Temer ..........

In the secret recording, Fabiano Silveira, appointed Minister of Supervision, Transparency, and Control by unelected interim President Temer, speaks with Senate chief Renan Calheiros and his lawyer, as well as former state oil executive Sergio Machado, the figure behind the recent series of leaks ........

.... Silveira’s involvement in conversations criticizing Operation Car Wash and strategizing on how to wage a defense on behalf of corrupt officials further shatters hope in the political will of the coup government to continue the anti-corruption campaigns. ...........

[geek tragedy]

8. Chris Christie could give an ethics lecture to these clowns nt

[L. Coyote]

9. Brazil Prosecutors Call for Arrest of Politicians Who Led Coup Against Rousseff

Brazil Prosecutors Call for Arrest of Politicians Who Led Coup Against Rousseff
Published 7 June 2016

Brazil’s Prosecutor General has requested the arrest of Senate Chief Calheiros and other ruling party leaders over an alleged corruption cover-up.

Brazil's chief prosecutor asked the Supreme Court to authorize the arrest of the presidents of the Senate and of the ruling Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB, for allegedly trying to obstruct police investigations, newspaper O Globo said on Tuesday. ............

[Judi Lynn]

10. Outstanding news. The photo is excellent, too. They don't look so cocky, now.

[center]
[font size=1]
Brazil's interim President Michel Temer (C) attends a meeting with Brazil's Senate President Renan Calheiros
(centre, R) and Planning Minister Romero Juca (centre, L) in Brasilia, Brazil, May 23, 2016. | Photo: Reuters
[/font][/center]
Temer, the coup President, looks constipated.

If only they can find enough power to shove these creeps back under the rocks, and out of the Presidency. They should not be allowed to benefit from their crimes, and their mockery of the Brazilian electorate.

[L. Coyote]

11. And once they are arrested, make them sing for leniency! Arrest them all.

[L. Coyote]

12. As Brasília’s Corruption Is Exposed, Lawmakers Try to Criminalize Dissent (recording their crimes)

This is rich, secret recordings that revealed the coup the target of legislation.

As Brasília’s Corruption Is Exposed, Lawmakers Try to Criminalize Dissent
Andrew Fishman = June 10 2016

(Para ler a versão desse artigo em Português, clique aqui.)

Leaked secret audio recordings of Brazil’s most powerful figures have sparked a series of explosive scandals in the nation’s ongoing political crisis. Now, Brazilian lawmakers are trying to outlaw publication of such recordings.

A bill, which has been idling since last year in the Câmara dos Deputados, Brazil’s lower house of Congress, has picked up new steam this month. The proposed legislation seeks to criminalize the “filming, photographing or capturing of a person’s voice, without authorization or lawful ends,” punishable by up to two years imprisonment and a fine. If the recording is published on social media, the penalty rises to four to six years.

When it was originally introduced, the bill was criticized as one of many proposed draconian measures designed to protect politicians and a direct threat to freedom of expression and the press.

The anti-recording bill was introduced in 2015 by Deputado Veneziano Vital do Rêgo, of interim President Michel Temer’s increasingly right-leaning PMDB party. Rêgo, who voted for the impeachment of now suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, has reason to fear being secretly taped: He is a suspect in 35 pending investigations for various financial and administrative crimes, as of April, according to Transparência Brasil, a leading anti-corruption watchdog, and the fact-checking website Agência Lupa.

...................

[L. Coyote]

13. Procesan en Brasil a Cláudia Cruz, la esposa de Eduardo Cunha

Procesan en Brasil a Cláudia Cruz, la esposa de Eduardo Cunha

9 de junio del 2016 a las 22:16 hs

El juez federal Sergio Moro aceptó este jueves a trámite las denuncias por corrupción contra Claudia Cordeiro Cruz, esposa del presidente suspendido de la Cámara Baja de Brasil, Eduardo Cunha, implicado en el escándalo de la estatal Petrobras.

El despacho de Moro, responsable de la investigación sobre la red de corrupción que operó en la petrolera, informó que Cordeiro Cruz será procesada por los supuestos delitos de corrupción, lavado de dinero y evasión de divisas.

En esa misma causa, y con cargos similares, Moro encuadró al empresario Joao Augusto Rezende Henriques y al exdirector del área de Internacional de Petrobras Jorge Luiz Zelada.

Las acusaciones que pesan contra Cordeiro Cruz son las mismas que llevaron a la Corte Suprema a iniciar un proceso penal contra Cunha e incluso a suspenderle de sus funciones como diputado, al menos mientras dure el juicio. .............

Google translate:

Federal Judge Sergio Moro Thursday accepted for processing complaints of corruption against Claudia Cordeiro Cruz, wife of suspended President of the Lower House of Brazil, Eduardo Cunha, implicated in the scandal of the state oil company Petrobras.

Moro's office responsible for the investigation into the corruption network that operated in the oil, said Cordeiro Cruz will be prosecuted for the alleged crimes of corruption, money laundering and capital flight.

In that same case, and similar charges, Moro Joao Augusto framed the employer Henriques Rezende and former director of Petrobras' International Area Jorge Luiz Zelada.

The charges against Cordeiro Cruz are the same that led the Supreme Court to initiate criminal proceedings against Cunha and even suspend him from his duties as deputy, at least for the duration of the trial

[L. Coyote]

14. Brazilians really dislike new Prez Temer ... almost 90% dissaproval!

teleSUR English
?@telesurenglish

WOW. It turns out Brazilians really dislike new Prez Temer ... almost 90% dissaproval! http://bit.ly/218iSdH

Poll Shows Temer Approval at 11%, Brazilians Want To Elect Their President in Elections

The survey showed that 50.3 percent of Brazilians are in favor of holding new elections this year to resolve the political crisis affecting the country since widespread corruption led to a parliamentary coup against President Dilma Rousseff.

Only 11.3 percent of those questioned gave Temer – who heads up a scandal-ridden interim government of politicians being investigated in the corruption scandal – a positive rating .....

[L. Coyote]

15. Anti-Corruption Symbol Arrested For, Well, Corruption

Anti-Corruption Symbol Arrested For, Well, Corruption

Federal Marshal Newton Ishii became a symbol of Operation Car Wash, Brazil’s biggest-ever anti-corruption investigation. But now, he is accused of smuggling
By plus55 on Jun 08, 2016

The high-profile arrests of Operation Car Wash, the anti-corruption investigation Brazilians have been following for the past two years, have all had something in common: the presence of Federal Police Agent Newton Ishii. He is in nearly every picture of corrupt politicians being escorted to jail. Now, Ishii is in jail himself, accused of taking part in a scheme to smuggle goods into Brazil.

........... In 2013, Ishii was found guilty of facilitating the entry of illegal goods in Brazil through the border shared with Paraguay and was appealing the decision. He was convicted to four years and two months in jail. According to his lawyer, Ishii will be able to serve his sentence in a semi-open system. That means he will be able to work during the day but spend his nights in jail. We hope he won’t be carrying out his Federal Marshal duties.