Brazil's Cardoso Victim Of Blackmail Attempts - Media
Dow Jones Newswires
SAO PAULO -- Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and
some of his closest allies have been the victims of blackmail attempts over
the past 18 months, local media reported Sunday and Monday.
In one instance, recordings were made of public and private conversations
of Cardoso and three top officials from the National Development Bank,
known as BNDES, including former BNDES head and current
Communications Minister Luis Carlos Mendonca de Barros.
The reports said that the blackmailers managed to tape conversations
which included embarrassing remarks by Mendonca de Barros, as well as
negotiations on the telecommunications privatization process.
The BNDES officials have had their phone conversations tapped since
April 1997, weekly magazine Epoca reported. Cardoso handed the tapes
to the Brazilian Intelligence Agency for investigation last week.
Another blackmail attempt involves a set of documents which allegedly
indicates that the president, Health Minister Jose Serra, recently-reelected
Sao Paulo state governor Mario Covas, and a former Communications
Minister, the late Sergio Motta, are partners in a Cayman Islands-based
company. The company is said to have a banking account worth $368
million.
The blackmailers reportedly gave the documents to former Sao Paulo
governor Paulo Maluf a few days before run-off state elections on Oct. 25,
in which Maluf was going up against Covas.
Maluf then tried unsuccessfully to persuade opposition party members to
make the documents and accusations public before Oct. 25. His party, the
Brazilian Progressive Party (PPB), comprises the government's political
support base.
Local press reports strongly suggested that the accusations are unfounded,
but they did say that the BNDES phone conversations would put the
government in an embarrassing situation.
Presidential spokesman Sergio Amaral said during his daily press briefing
Monday that Cardoso isn't concerned and that "the recorded phone
conversations are a setup for certain government members."
According to local press reports, the "setup" would be designed to
jeopardize Mendonca de Barros, who is widely expected to be appointed
to be the new Production Minister when this ministry is created.
-By Adriana Arai; 5511-813-1988; aarai@ap.org |
