Brazil Senate Pres On Leave Amid Corruption Allegations
Dow Jones Newswires
July 20, 2001
BRASILIA (AP)--Besieged by allegations of embezzling public funds and corruption, Senate President Jader Barbalho on Friday asked for a 60-day leave of absence but said he wouldn't resign as a senator.
Speaking to reporters at his Brasilia residence before leaving for Belem, his power base in the northern state of Para, Barbalho said he had requested the leave in a letter to Congress.
He said he would use the time out "to demolish the campaign of lies and defamations against me, designed to hurt my image and the image of my party."
Opposition parties have demanded a congressional investigation into allegations that Barbalho embezzled $10 million from the state bank of Para while he was state governor in the 1980s and was involved in selling nonexistent rural properties.
He is also accused of selling government buildings for private profit.
Barbalho's move was a further blow to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's coalition government, buffeted by a dire energy crisis, a slowing economy and corruption scandals.
Barbalho, 56, is the former leader of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB, the largest party in the government coalition. He was elected as Senate President in February after cutting a deal with Cardoso's Brazilian Social Democratic Party.
The Supreme Court is currently mulling a request to allow investigators access to Barbalho's bank accounts, telephone calls and income tax declarations.
Media reports say Barbalho's personal fortune has increased by 30 million reals ($1=BRL2.462) in recent years, although he had only declared a fraction of that to tax authorities.
He allegedly siphoned off public funds into his own bank account and those of close family members, weekly Veja reported this week.
Barbalho was also allegedly involved in peddling influence in two regional development agencies that have since been closed down on grounds of corruption.
As long as he is a senator, Barbalho enjoys immunity from prosecution.
In April, Barbalho's predecessor and archrival Antonio Carlos Magalhaes and Sen. Jose Roberto Arruda resigned before they could be punished by the Senate's ethics committee for violating Congress's electronic and supposedly secret balloting system. |
