News / Brazil

Rousseff was warned about illegal donations to her campaign: Report

Tuesday, 21 June 2016 4:48 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 21 June 2016 6:11 PM ]

Suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (AFP photo)

A Brazilian newspaper has revealed that the suspended president of the country, Dilma Rousseff, was once warned about illegal donations to her election campaign.

Folha de S. Paulo reported Tuesday that Marcelo Odebrecht, the former chief executive of Latin America's largest construction company Odebrecht SA, will admit to prosecutors that he personally oversaw illegal campaign donations for Rousseff in 2010 and 2014.

Odebrecht, the paper said, will acknowledge having warned the suspended president on May 26, 2015 in Mexico that prosecutors were about to discover illegal transfers to Joao Santana, who was her re-election strategist.

Odebrecht was arrested in June 2015, one month after he informed Rousseff of the approaching investigation. The paper said a plea agreement has been reached and Odebrecht will testify that Rousseff did not pay attention to his warning about the illegal money transfers.

The newspaper did not disclose the source of its information. According to the Brazilian law, plea bargain testimony to prosecutors is confidential until approved by a judge. Officials in Odebrecht’s office would not elaborate on the report, neither those close to Rousseff.

Odebrecht was arrested over a massive kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison after being convicted of corruption and money laundering in the Petrobras case. However, Odebrecht showed first signs of collaboration on June 2, when judge Sergio Moro suspended one of several lawsuits against Odebrecht SA executives for 30 days.

The revelations could seriously complicate the situation of Rousseff, who was suspended last month to face a senate trial over alleged financial wrongdoing. Rousseff denies any wrongdoing and says the parliamentary move against her was a coup.

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