Ethics Committee questions Cardozo about dossier.
The Minister of Justice will have to provide information about his actions in the case of sending a dossier to the Federal Police with allegations of a corruption scheme in the São Paulo subway system, involving politicians from the PSDB party; the party accuses the minister of acting politically and has asked the Presidency's commission to examine the matter.
Yara Aquino
Reporter from Agência Brasil
Brasilia – The Public Ethics Commission of the Presidency of the Republic decided, this Monday the 9th, to request information from the Minister of Justice, José Eduardo Cardozo, regarding his actions in the case of the sending of a dossier to the Federal Police with allegations of a corruption scheme in the São Paulo subway system, which would involve members of the PSDB party.
The information comes from the commission's president, Américo Lacombe. The PSDB accuses the minister of acting politically when forwarding the dossier to the Federal Police and has asked the commission to examine what happened.
After receiving the request, Minister Cardozo will have ten days to send the clarifications to the Public Ethics Commission of the Presidency of the Republic. The expectation is that the case will be discussed again by the commission at its next meeting, scheduled for January 29, 2014, according to the commission's president, Américo Lacombe. "We only requested information and then we will see what we will do," he said.
In late November, the release of a dossier generated controversy for involving the names of PSDB politicians in irregularities in bidding processes for São Paulo's subway construction. The leak led to an exchange of accusations between members of the PSDB and PT parties. Minister Cardozo reported receiving a folder of documents on May 11 or 12 of this year, containing evidence of irregularities in the bidding processes. The material was delivered by Pedro Simão, Secretary of Services for the City of São Paulo, to the minister's residence.
The initial information from the Federal Police (PF) was that the dossier had been forwarded by the Administrative Council for Economic Defense. Later, Cardozo said that he was the one who received the material from the licensed congressman Simão Pedro (PT-SP) and passed it on to the PF to verify the "plausibility of the documents".
Lacombe also reported that the commission has already received information forwarded by the Minister of Institutional Relations, Ideli Salvatti, regarding the use of a Federal Highway Police (PRF) helicopter during travel in Santa Catarina. This matter will also be revisited at the January meeting.