BRASILIA/RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil’s President Michel Temer denied on Thursday that he hosted a meeting in 2010 where an executive of engineering firm Odebrecht SA was asked to arrange an illegal payment of $40 million to his political party.
The graft accusation, which Temer dismissed as “a lie,” was made in plea bargain testimony by Marcio Faria da Silva, a former vice-president of the industrial arm of scandal-plagued Odebrecht.
Though potentially damaging to his credibility, and efforts to shore up Latin America’s biggest economy, Faria’s allegation does not threaten Temer’s hold on power. As president, he has temporary immunity for anything that occurred before he took office last year.
The accusation was made public on Wednesday as part of a rash of plea bargain deals by 77 Odebrecht executives caught up in a massive corruption scheme.
Faria said he met with Temer in 2010 in his Sao Paulo legal office, together with former lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha and Congressman Henrique Eduardo Alves, all members of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB).
At the meeting, the payment was requested as a 5 per cent levy on a contract Odebrecht was seeking from state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA’s for the maintenance of assets in nine countries, Faria said.
Temer confirmed in a video statement posted on social media that he took part in a meeting with a company executive in 2010 but there was no talk of an illegal donation.
“It is a lie that in that meeting I heard any reference to money or any shady dealings between the company and politicians,” the president said.
Earlier on Thursday, Temer’s office confirmed in a separate statement he met with Faria in 2010 in the presence of Cunha for a “quick and superficial” meeting, but denied that Alves participated.
Representatives for Alves and Cunha, who is in prison pending trial on other charges, could not be reached for comment.
The testimony by Faria was among dozens of plea bargain testimonies released by Supreme Court Justice Luiz Edson Fachin.
Based on the testimony, Fachin ordered investigations into nearly 100 politicians as part of the Operation Car War probe into billions of dollars in bribes and illegal kickbacks on contracts with state companies, particularly Petrobras.
The allegations come as Temer is trying to push an overhaul of Brazil’s pension system through Congress, part of a business-friendly agenda that has sparked a rise in Brazil’s stockmarket and currency. Congress is due to start discussions of the reform next week.
Some lawmakers on Thursday said the government would look to speed up the passing of reforms now that so many politicians were under investigation, but admitted that such a move might prove difficult.
In his testimony, Faria alleged that, while Temer did not speak about any figures, Cunha made it clear that a payment was expected. — Reuters
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