Tijolaço: Is donating to the PT a bribe, while donating to the PSDB is love?
"Dr. Sérgio Moro's plea bargain produces a half-truth obtained from the imprisonment of businessmen for months. They agree to say they gave money to one party as a bribe and remain silent – indeed, they aren't even asked – about whether they gave to others out of love. Any investigator would ask why they gave to other parties. Not here. Here, the morality of the media, as well as the investigations of its journalists, is selective," says journalist Fernando Brito, editor of Tijolaço.
Do "clean" and "dirty" donations depend on who the recipient is?
On yesterday's Jornal Nacional, two "confessions" were reported.
In the first statement, Paulo Roberto Costa says that the legal donations from construction companies to election campaigns were "nonsense" and merely a cover for bribery payments.
On Monday, a former Engevix executive said he gave bribes to the PT (Workers' Party) in the form of legal donations.
Very well, let's believe that both of them are telling the truth, nothing but the truth.
A basic question that arises for honest investigators, be they police officers, prosecutors, or journalists: if the legal donations were bribes – in the words of Paulo Roberto Costa – what were the donations to other parties?
Love?
Were the millions donated to the PSDB by OAS, Odebrecht, Serveng-Civilsan, and Queiroz Galvão out of civic spirit?
I only looked for one example from the 2010 elections, which is accessible to everyone: the donations from the construction company Camargo Correia: Aécio Neves, Antonio Anastasia, the president of the Teotônio Vilela Institute (PSDB), Luiz Paulo Vellozo Lucas, Demóstenes Torres, Paulo Skaf, the governor of Paraná, Beto Richa (also a member of the PSDB), and Eduardo Cunha were among those who donated, just as they did to PT candidates.
Besides the millions given to the PSDB (Presidential Committee and National Directorate) that were passed on to José Serra's campaign, and other millions given to Geraldo Alckmin's campaign for Governor of the State, even the PV, Marina Silva's party at the time, received its "little million."
They all received donations from the same construction companies, all of significant value.
But some were bribes, others "legitimate participation of the company in the electoral process," which is the hypocritical situation sustained by the shelving, promoted by Minister Gilmar Mendes, of the TSE's decision prohibiting corporate money in campaigns.
Dr. Sérgio Moro's plea bargain produces a half-truth obtained from the imprisonment of businessmen for months.
They accept saying they gave to one person as a bribe and remain silent – indeed, they aren't even asked – about whether they gave to others out of love.
Any investigator would ask why they gave it to other parties.
Not here.
Here, the morality of the media, as well as the fact-checking of its journalists, is selective.