Steve and all-- A very good article in the liberal NY Times about the allegations of corruption. Apparently, they were forged.
November 19, 1998
Brazil Preoccupied With Mystery Tapes
By LARRY ROHTER
IO DE JANEIRO -- Washington and Wall Street may be breathing a sigh of relief now that a rescue package for the
Brazilian economy has been stitched together. But the political leaders who will have to hold up Brazil's end of the
bargain have suddenly become preoccupied with another troublesome question: who fabricated the mysterious tapes
and documents that implicate Brazil's President in potentially impeachable offenses?
Shortly before the re-election of Fernando Henrique Cardoso last month, potentially compromising recordings of intercepted
telephone calls between senior Government officials, including Cardoso, were left under a highway underpass here. About
the same time, an anonymous person sent a series of faxes highly unfavorable to the image of the President to a Government
minister, who made them available to the press in recent days.
The faxes purport to show that since 1994, Cardoso and three allies have maintained a secret offshore bank account and
slush fund in the Cayman Islands with a balance of $368 million. In coded language, the faxed correspondence describes
deposits and transfers made by a company in the Bahamas, CH, J & T Inc., whose initials correspond to those of its
supposed owners.
The audiotapes, on the other hand, raise questions about the propriety of the Government's handling of the $19 billion
privatization of the state telephone company. Edited transcripts published this week indicate that those who were tapped
talked with embarrassing and even vulgar frankness about friends and enemies: the Minister of Communications, for instance,
has acknowledged that he referred to a senior aide to the Treasury Minister as "a blockhead," though, he asserted, only "in an
affectionate manner."
The matter has quickly become a distraction for the Brazilian Congress at the precise moment that Mr. Cardoso had been
hoping to focus the attention of legislators on the $41.5 billion loan and credit package agreement reached with the
International Monetary Fund last week. The agreement is contingent on the Brazilian Government adopting a series of
budget cuts and administrative reforms, most of which would need to be approved by both houses of the Congress.
"Suddenly the President is confronting something no one expected, something that can consume the energy of his
Government," said Alexandre Barros, a political analyst and commentator in Brasília. "Clearly someone is trying to pull the
rug from under his feet, and whether the charges are true or false, there is an element of wear and tear in this."
Cardoso's spokesman, Sergio Amaral, has dismissed the entire dossier as a crude forgery. "Of course he does not own any
companies abroad," Amaral said at a news conference in Brasília last week, adding that the only assets the President has
overseas are two bank accounts in New York City with a total of about $23,000.
Indeed, nearly everything about the documents seems to indicate they are fraudulent. Though officials in the Bahamas have
confirmed the existence of the company named in the correspondence, questions have arisen about the authenticity of
signatures, and the letters contain misspellings and very awkward syntax, as if written by someone whose native language is
not English.
For that reason, press accounts here have been openly skeptical about the effort to make Cardoso, who has a reputation for
personal rectitude, look like the Brazilian equivalent of Carlos Salinas de Gortari of Mexico. Nevertheless, the incidents have
provoked several rounds of finger-pointing and speculation as to who is attempting to do in the President, who is scheduled
to be inaugurated for his second four-year term in January.
Last week, a Senator said that former President Fernando Collor de Melo offered to send him a copy of the dossier and
suggested to him that he make the information public. Collor, who resigned in 1992 just as the Congress was about to vote to
impeach him on corruption charges, has denied making any such proposal.
On Friday, Cardoso angrily attacked those behind the intrigue, calling them "farceurs and forgers" and indirectly pointing a
finger at Collor. "It is necessary to express to the nation the indignation I feel at seeing people with no credibility whatsoever
returning again to the public scene with insinuations," he said.
More enigmatic is the role played by Paulo Maluf, a former Mayor and Governor of São Paulo, the country's largest city and
state. Maluf is nominally an ally of the President, but has long harbored presidential ambitions of his own, and admitted that
his daughters also had a copy of the dossier and offered it to leaders of the main opposition party, who rejected the overture.
Maluf asserted that the women "acted on their own account" and without his knowledge. But he has also lashed out at
members of Cardoso's Cabinet, saying their aim was to discredit his party.
The President's supporters have had to mute their criticisms of Maluf's conduct, though. The reason: If the financial rescue
package crafted by the Cardoso Government and the I.M.F. during two months of difficult negotiations is to pass in the
Congress, the support of legislators loyal to Maluf is essential.
Antonio Carlos Magalhaes, the Senate majority leader and one Cardoso's closest political associates, last week appeared to
rebuke Maluf, saying the plot against Cardoso was "reprehensible" and that if Maluf was involved in any way, "obviously it
is an attitude that is disconcerting and does not dignify him." But, he continued, "I am not going to break with Maluf."
Sensing a political opportunity, opposition parties are now demanding a full-scale parliamentary investigation, which could
drag on for months. Cardoso's supporters have resisted that effort, but then the head of the federal police announced the
start of an official investigation and said he would call on all those whose names are mentioned in the affair, including
Cardoso, to testify.
Amaral, the presidential spokesman, said Cardoso was willing to cooperate "because it is necessary to bring an end to this
infamy based on rumors."
fred |
