June 6, 2005  In a newspaper interview, Roberto Jefferson, the president of the PTB, denounces a corruption scheme in the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva government in which members of Congress receive monthly payments to support government projects. Hence the name: big monthly allowance (“mensalão”).

June 9, 2005  A parliamentary investigative committee (“CPI dos Correios”) is established to investigate corruption at the Post Office..

June 16, 2005  José Dirceu, the powerful presidential Chief of Staff (“ministro-chefe da Casa Civil), who Roberto Jefferson says is the leader of the mensalão, resigns and returns to take his seat in the Chamber of Deputies where he represents the state of São Paulo.

June 20, 2005  A second CPI is established. This is the mensalão CPI.

September 14, 2005  Roberto Jefferson is expelled from the Chamber of Deputies (“mandato cassado”) for misconduct (“quebra de decoro”).

November 16, 2005  The mensalão CPI ends without making any charges against anyone. It is also unable to agree on a text for the committee’s final report.

December 1, 2005  José Dirceu is expelled from the Chamber of Deputies for his participation in the vote-buying scheme denounced by Roberto Jefferson.

March 15, 2006   Pedro Correa, president of the PP, is expelled from the Chamber of Deputies as more misdoings come to light in the mensalão scheme.

April 5, 2006  After nine months of investigations, the CPI dos Correios ends its work. Deputy Osmar Serraglio (PMDB-PR), the committee “redator,” writes a final report that calls for indictments against 100 people.

April 11, 2006  Brazil’s chief federal prosecutor (“procurador-geral da República”), Antonio Fernando de Souza, convinced that criminal activities took place, files a suit at the Supreme Court against 40 people for their participation in the mensalão.

The reason the case goes to the Brazilian Supreme Court is that high-ranking authorities and elected officials have what is known as privileged criminal venue (“foro privilegiado”), meaning that they can only be tried before the nation’s highest court.

August 11, 2007  The Supreme Court begins hearings to decide whether or not it will take the mensalão case.

August 22, 2007  The Supreme Court decides it will accept the mensalão case.

January 24, 2008  The former secretary general of the PT, Silvio Pereira, who is accused of conspiracy in the mensalão case, works out a plea bargain with prosecutors (“faz acordo com o Ministério Público”) and is removed from the list of the accused (“deixa de ser réu”)

September 14, 2010  One of the accused in the mensalão case now before the Supreme Court, former deputy JoséJanene, dies at the age of 55. Janene was a leader of the PP in the Chamber of Deputies when the mensalão became public.

June 9, 2011  Almost four years after the Supreme Court accepted the mensalão case, associate justice Joaquim Barbosa, the redator, announces that he has concluded his task of bringing together all the evidence (“reunião de provas”) and that he is beginning the final phase of his work..

July 7, 2011   The chief federal prosecutor, Roberto Gurgel, presents his final brief on the mensalão case in which he reaffirms the position of his predecessor to move ahead with prosecution. However, he removes two defendants for lack of evidence (Luiz Gushiken, formerly the head (minister) of the Secretariat of Social Communication, and Antonio Lamas, a parliamentary aide).

December 19, 2011  Justice Joaquim Barbosa concludes his work and sends it to justice Ricardo Lewandowski for revision (Lewandowski is the “revisor” who will review the whole case; that is, the prosecutor’s brief, the evidence and Barbosa’s summary. The objective is to ensure that the case is on solid legal footing).

June 6, 2012  The Supreme Court puts the mensalão on its docket, scheduling the beginning of the trial for August.

June 26, 2012  Justice Ricardo Lewandowski concludes his work and releases the case for trial.

July 2012  During the month of July the Supreme Court is in recess.

August 2, 2012  The mensalão trial begins. The process is very different from what happens in the US Supreme Court where as almost all cases come up from lower courts there is a petitioner and a respondent who present briefs and the court issues writs of certiorari.

The mensalão would be called “original jurisdiction,” something that is very limited in the US, but encompasses all cases involving any elected or high-ranking authority in Brazil.

On trial are 36 people accused on numerous counts of conspiracy, active and/or passive corruption, malfeasance (misuse of public office or resources for private gain), illegally sending money abroad, money laundering and embezzlement.

As such, the mensalão is officially known as Penal Case 470 and there is a prosecutor (the chief federal prosecutor who presented his not very brief brief in five hours) and the defense lawyers for the 36 defendants who are limited to an hour to present their arguments before the eleven Supreme Court justices.

Although it is possible, it is not usual for Brazilian Supreme Court justices to ask questions during the oral presentations by the prosecutor and the defense lawyers.

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The floor decision went contrary to the opinion of the rapporteur of the case, Cézar Schirmer (Party of Brazilian Democratic Movement, Rio Grande do Sul), who recommended that Cunha be deprived of his legislative mandate.

Schirmer’s opinion was approved by the Ethics Council. As a result of the vote in Cunha’s favor, the case will be tabled, and Cunha will continue exercising his mandate, with full political rights.

Cunha was accused of breach of parliamentary decorum. His wife, Márcia Regina, withdrew US$ 23,430 (50,000 reais) from accounts belonging to the advertising executive, Marcos Valério Fernandes de Souza, considered the chief operator of the "mensalão," the so-called vote-buying scheme in which monthly payments were made to legislators in exchange for supporting the Administration.

The former president of the Chamber claims that the withdrawal was made at the behest of the ex-treasurer of the PT, Delúbio Soares. "I was certain that the money came from party coffers," he affirms.

According to Cunha, the money was used to pay for campaign research in four cities in the region of Osasco, São Paulo.

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The opposition parties decided Thursday, September 15, to grant a period for the deputies named in the combined report of the Joint Parliamentary Investigative Commissions (CPMIs) on the Post Office and Vote Buying as participants in the alleged scheme of monthly allowance payments (“mensalão”) so they can defend themselves before the Disciplinary Board of the Chamber.

The decision was communicated officially in a joint note delivered to the vice-president of the Chamber, José Thomaz Nonô, by representatives of the parties and signed by the PPS, PDT, PV, PSDB, the leadership of the minority, and part of the PT and the PSOL. The opposition representatives affirmed that, once this period is over, they will file motions directly against these deputies in the Ethics Council.

The vice-leader of the PPS, Raul Jungmann, said that they decided to concede the charged legislators some time so that “it is clear to society that we are not impeding anyone’s right to a full defense.”

According to him, the lawmakers cited by the CPMIs will be able to defend themselves before the Disciplinary Board of the Chamber during this period and offer clarifications. “What we are not going to accept is procrastinating the investigations,” Jungmann declared.

In view of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) injunctions granting the seven PT deputies cited by the CPMIs the right to defend themselves before the Disciplinary Board, the Executive Board of the Chamber decided to postpone forwarding the motions against them to the Ethics Council.

Deputy Denise Frossard, who is a judge, said that the Supreme Court decision stopped the Congress in its tracks. “The Judiciary jumped headlong into the crisis,” Frossard remarked.

“The STF blocked the National Congress from performing a constitutional function that pertains to it, that of punishing its own legislators.”

For Frossard, the error originated in the Chamber, which did not recognize the legislators’ right to defend themselves before the Disciplinary Board. In her opinion, the least damaging solution for the Legislature is to correct the mistake by giving the deputies cited by the CPMIs a period in which to defend themselves.

According to the internal regulations of the Chamber and the Ethics Council, only the Executive Board of the Chamber or a political party has the right to file motions in the Council of Ethics and Parliamentary Decorum for processes to be initiated against legislators to revoke their mandates.

Agência Brasil

The report brings charges against 18 deputies, which could result in their expulsion, and former deputy, Valdemar Costa Neto, who has already resigned.

The report now goes to the president of the Chamber, Severino Cavalcanti (PP – Pernambuco) who, it is expected, will forward it to the Ethics Commission where a decision will be made on whether or not to have a floor vote on expulsion.

The deputies are accused of illegal campaign financing practices, placing cronies in strategic positions in state-run enterprises and getting kickbacks from them, as well as receiving cash payments in exchange for voting for the government in Congress.

They are: Carlos Rodrigues (PL – Rio de Janeiro), José Janene (PP – Paraná), Pedro Correia (PP – Pernambuco), Pedro Henry (PP – Mato Grosso do Sul), Sandro Mabel (PL – Goiás), João Magno (PT – Minas Gerais), João Paulo Cunha (PT – São Paulo), José Borba (PMDB – Paraná), Josias Gomes da Silva (PT – Bahia), Paulo Rocha (PT – Bahia), Professor Luizinho (PT – São Paulo ), Romeu Queiroz (PTB – Minas Gerais), Vadão Gomes (PP – São Paulo), Vanderval Santos (PL – São Paulo), José Mentor (PT – São Paulo), Roberto Brant (PFL – Minas Gerais), José Dirceu (PT – São Paulo) and Roberto Jefferson (PTB – Rio de Janeiro).

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The joint preliminary report by the Post Office and Vote Buying Congressional Inquiry in Brazil says that it is “perfectly plausible” that the loans made by adman/businessman Marcos Valerio at the Banco Rural and the BMG (Banco de Minas Gerais) for the PT were fictitious and were invented in order to make illegal funds legal.

According to the report, the money from the loans was “passed on to the pockets of politicians under the false pretext of paying for past debts.”

The report calls the story by Valerio of his guaranteeing the loans for the PT based on his friendship with the former PT treasurer, Delubio Soares, “a lame explanation.”

The report goes on to say that it is most unlikely that the Banco Rural and BMG would have made the loans with such “fragile guarantees.”

The report concludes by saying that PT creditors seem resigned to losing their money or, the report wryly observes, they are cooking up illicit means to get it back.

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Seven of the 61 pages comprising the preliminary, combined report submitted by Brazil’s joint parliamentary investigation commissions (CPMIs) into the Post Office and Vote Buying were devoted to an analysis of the alleged involvement of the ex-Chief of Staff, federal deputy José Dirceu, in the monthly payoff (“mensalão”) scheme.

The “mensalão” refers to the presumed monthly allowances paid to lawmakers from parties belonging to the Executive’s coalition base in the National Congress.

The reporters of the commissions, Osmar Serraglio (the Post Office) and Ibrahim Abi-Ackel (Vote Buying) underscored the accusations leveled against Dirceu by deputy Roberto Jefferson (PTB-RJ).

“Deputy José Dirceu, ex-Chief of Staff, was named by deputy Roberto Jefferson before this commission, as before the Ethics Council of the Chamber of Deputies and in interviews with the press, as the originator of the scheme known as the ‘mensalão,’ ” the report states.

The reporters transcribed Jefferson’s declarations that, as political coordinator and chief minister of Lula’s Administration, “deputy José Dirceu organized the scheme for making payments to deputies in exchange for votes in support of the government.”

In her testimony before the CPMI into the Post Office, Renilda Souza, wife of advertising executive, Marcos Valério de Souza, said that her husband participated in meetings with the then-minister José Dirceu, accompanied by directors of the Bank of Minas Gerais (BMG).

The reporters stressed the fact that she told the CPMI that Dirceu was aware of the loans taken by Marcos Valério to transfer money to the Workers’ Party (PT).

In the CPMI into Vote Buying, the ex-treasurer of the PTB, Emerson Palmieri, affirmed that the ex-minister was always consulted following meetings with leaders of the PT.

“Following all these conversations, there was always a call from Delúbio (Soares) or (José) Genoí­no to deputy José Dirceu, and, after this contact, the leaders of the PT guaranteed that everything was okay with respect to the transfer of funds,” the report says.

The declaration made by the ex-president of the PTB about lawmakers’ switching parties was considered a “serious accusation” by the reporters.

“There is cooptation of deputies. Various deputies entered my own party as well with nominations made by José Dirceu to form my party’s base,” Jefferson said.

In his defense, Dirceu affirms that the accusations made by Roberto Jefferson “are bereft of proof and seriousness, indicating a mere attempt to deviate the course of the investigations that should be conducted by this CPMI.”

He also contends that all that exists are “suppositions” regarding his knowledge of the loans allegedly received by the PT and co-signed by Marcos Valério.

Agência Brasil

The first preliminary report from Brazil’s Post Office CPI – Comissão Parlamentar Mista de Inquérito (CPMI) na Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos (ECT) – will be presented today by the commission redactor, deputy Osmar Serraglio (PMDB party from Paraná state).

It is expected that Serraglio will request the expulsion of eighteen members of Congress who are supposedly involved in a monthly payoff scheme, which paid congressmen in parties allied with the government a monthly allowance (“mensalão”) to vote with the government.

Illegal Emigration Inquiry

The director of the Department of Brazilian Communities Abroad at the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Manoel Gomes Pereira, is scheduled to testify before members of the Illegal Emigration CPI (Comissão Parlamentar Mista de Inquérito (CPMI)) which is investigating the emigration of Brazilians to the United States and other countries.

Gomes will report on the diplomatic mission which was sent to England to accompany the investigation into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian who was shot by London police on July 22 after being mistakenly identified as a suicide bomber.

Two More CPIs

Party leaders in the Brazilian Congress are meeting today to discuss the installation of two more joint parliamentary investigative commissions. A decision on the issue will be made by the president of the Congress, senator Renan Calheiros.

The two new CPIs would look into charges of graft at the Reinsurance Institute of Brazil (IRB), and the country’s domestic and foreign debt.

At the moment, there are CPIs investigating the Post Office, bingos, illegal emigration, land conflict and vote buying.

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The chairman of the Post Office Parliamentary Inquiry (CPI), senator DelcÀ­dio Amaral from the Mato Grosso do Sul state PT party, reports that as the commission enters its second month of work, it will speed up its investigations.

Amaral says that within ten days a report should be completed on 18 federal deputies who have been linked directly or indirectly to the monthly allowance payments (“mensalão”) or unregistered campaign withdrawals from the accounts of Marcos Valério.

The CPI redactor, Osmar Serraglio (PMDB-Paraná) points out that it is often difficult to distinguish between what is proof and what is just an indication of wrongdoing.

In cases where it is believed there is involvement in the mensalão, the case will go directly to the Chamber of Deputies Ethics Council for action, which could mean expulsion.

As for the non-registration of campaign financing, Serraglio sentenced: “The fact that this may have been generalized practice does not make it legal.”

The CPI is already sending reports of its investigations to the police and prosecutors, revealed Amaral.

Decisions on these matters will be made by the commission as a whole

PT Secretary Resigns

Already on a leave of absence from his post as secretary of Finances of the Workers’ Party (PT) on Saturday Delúbio Soares resigned from the party for “an indefinite period of time.”

Soares is being investigated by the party Ethics Commission after admitting that he used irregular methods to finance election campaigns. He has also been accused by deputy Roberto Jefferson (PTB-Rio de Janeiro) of buying votes in Congress.

Agência Brasil

Brazil’s Parliamentary Investigative Commission (CPI), which is investigating a supposed payoff scheme in Congress, has scheduled testimony by deputy Roberto Jefferson from Rio de Janeiro’s PTB party for Wednesday.

Jefferson is the author of the denouncement that a payoff scheme existed to give some members of Congress a monthly allowance (“mensalão”) so that they would vote with the government.

This CPI was established on July 20. Its chairman, Amir Lando from Roraima’s PMDB, is to have a meeting with the Supreme Court Chief Justice, Nelson Jobim, to discuss the limits of the CPI’s investigation. Meanwhile the members of the commission are drawing up plans for their work.

Financial Director Grilled

Simone Vasconcelos, an employee of the ad agency, SMP&B, is scheduled to be interrogated by the Federal Police today. Vasconcelos was a financial director of SMP&B, which is partly owned by Marcos Valério.

Valério has been denounced as the moneyman in a supposed congressional payoff scheme where some members of Congress were paid to vote with the government.

Vasconcelos is accused of actually making the payments (which are known as a monthly allowance – “mensalão”) after she made large withdrawals from SMP&B accounts.

Meanwhile, the Post Office CPI has scheduled testimony by Vasconcelos for this Wednesday. In prior testimony to the Federal Police, Vasconcelos declared that she did not know the people she gave the money to.

She said Marcos Valério had her wear a certain blouse and that the people who got the money knew who she was by the blouse.

According to deputy Gustavo Fruet (PSDB-PR), “If she is going to stick to this blouse story, it is hard to see how we are going to make any progress on this.”

Agência Brasil

In the two weeks since it was installed, Brazil’s Parliamentary Investigative Commission (CPI) that is looking into a scandal at the Post Office has heard testimony from seven witnesses and ordered bank and telephone records of those involved.

The CPI is also examining some 90 contracts at the Post Office, along with other documents from the Federal Police, the Controller General Office and the Post Office itself.

The chairman of the CPI (as this is a joint commission, with members from the Senate and Chamber, it is correctly called a CPMI – the “M” standing for “misto” – “joint”), senator Delcí­dio Amaral (PT-MS), says the investigation is running a normal course.

The first thing the CPI examined was a video tape of the then-head of the Department of Contracts and Material, Maurí­cio Marinho, who talked about a corruption scheme.

The CPI has been investigating everyone mentioned in the film or involved in making the film (that includes Marinho, and businessmen Arthur Washeck and Antonio Velasco).

In the film, Marinho accuses the president of the PTB, Roberto Jefferson, from Rio de Janeiro, of commanding a kickback scheme in the Post Office.

Jefferson has since charged that the PT has been paying monthly allowances (mensalão) to members of the PP and PL parties so they would vote with the government.

Besides the Marinho film, the CPI has been investigating the Jefferson accusations, which has led them to an adman, Marcos Valério, supposedly the mensalão moneyman, his wife, Renilda de Souza, and his ex-secretary, Fernanda Karina Somaggio.

“Although the political situation is complicated, our investigations are moving ahead. I want to make it clear this CPI is not going to whitewash anything. We will come up with results,” said Amaral.

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