Brazilian congressman denies Veja magazine's claims about Vaccari's plea bargain.

The latest edition of Veja magazine featured a matter which was surprising, but didn't gain much traction because few believed it. Despite this, the rest of the media reproduced it, albeit with little prominence.

Veja magazine stated that "The man who collected and distributed more than 1 billion reais in bribes for the PT (Workers' Party), of which he was treasurer, is preparing to speak to Lava Jato investigators."

The magazine, whose reason for existence is to attack the PT (Workers' Party), refers to João Vaccari Neto, the party's former president, who has been imprisoned for over a year, having begun serving his sentence before the summary conviction imposed on him by Judge Sergio Moro.

Vaccari did not speak to Veja, but the magazine fabricated a statement attributed to him. According to the publication, the former PT treasurer allegedly said the following:

"If I speak, I'll betray the PT's soul. And there's more: the CUT people will kill me as soon as I show my face in the street.".

It's a joke. Note the absurdity of Veja's version, reader. If Vaccari had said that, the plea bargain would have been finalized. He would have confessed. He wouldn't even be able to appeal the first-instance sentence imposed on him by Sergio Moro, who would have gone after him.

The statement that Veja attributes to Vaccari could aggravate his sentence; the peremptory assertion that the largest labor union in the Americas murders people and is feared by one of its most prominent members would be a scandal with international repercussions.

Last Sunday, however, the author of this page participated in a meeting at the residence of jurist Pedro Serrano, in São Paulo, to discuss the launch of the book "Resistance to the 2016 Coup," in the São Paulo capital, which will take place on June 20th. There, he met federal deputy Paulo Teixeira (PT-SP), who was with Vaccari when he gave the statements that Veja criminally altered.

Listen below to the brief interview given by Teixeira to this blogger – below the video is the transcript of the congressman's statement.

Interview transcript

Citizenship Blog Paulo Teixeira, regarding that article that came out, I don't think it was in Folha de São Paulo…

Paulo Teixeira – In Veja…

Citizenship Blog – Regarding Vaccari's intention to enter into a plea bargain against someone, you say you were present when that statement was allegedly made, and that [what Veja says] is not true…

Paulo Teixeira – He never mentioned a plea bargain. What Vaccari says is that the Workers' Party has to position itself in this [investigation against it] from an institutional point of view, but he never mentioned a plea bargain.

Since we were in a meeting, it wasn't possible to record the rest of the conversation. However, what Vaccari said was the opposite of what Veja stated.

Vaccari said that the PT (Workers' Party) is part of the lawsuit filed against him, but that he couldn't implicate anyone because he didn't engage in any illegal dealings at the party's request to obtain bribes. What Veja did would be unbelievable, if it weren't Veja.