As Brazil Vote Nears, Testimony Ties Top Political Figures to Corruption Scandal 

As Brazilians prepare to vote in a national election next month, a scandal involving the state-controlled oil giant Petrobras flared up again this weekend over testimony that implicated dozens of top figures in President Dilma Rousseff’s governing coalition in a vast kickback scheme.

Details of the scheme were revealed in confidential testimony by Paulo Roberto Costa, a jailed former executive who oversaw refining operations at Petrobras until 2012.

The report raised further doubts about the ethics of the governing Workers Party after the convictions of top figures in the party for their roles in a separate scandal over a sprawling vote-buying scheme.

Ms. Rousseff addressed the revelations on Saturday at a campaign stop in São Paulo, saying that she was awaiting official information on the matter in order to take “all of the appropriate measures.” She added that it was too early to act on the “basis of speculation.” No charges have been filed against any of the political figures mentioned by Mr. Costa, the former Petrobras executive, and those he named rushed to say that they were innocent.

Mr. Costa was arrested in March after investigators said they had discovered a money-laundering operation that he had helped oversee as one of the most powerful executives at Petrobras from 2004 to 2012. Brazilian prosecutors said they discovered that Mr. Costa had kept about $23 million in Swiss bank accounts after profiting from the scheme.

Political figures — including three governors, the energy minister and more than 30 legislators — then benefited by receiving 3 percent of the value of the contracts, the report said, citing his testimony.

Mr. Costa’s testimony could also complicate the presidential campaign of Ms. Silva because Mr. Costa tied her former running mate, Eduardo Campos, to the scheme.

Source: NYT

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