It's war: Folha accuses Dilma of using slush funds in 2010.
The 2014 battle begins; Sunday's Folha headline points to alleged fraud in the accounts of President Dilma's victorious 2010 campaign; the publication claims to have identified at least 43 campaign workers who were declared in the PT's (Workers' Party) accounting to the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) as "volunteer workers," but who allegedly received money for work performed in the second round of the election.
247 – Folha de S. Paulo, owned by Otavio Frias, officially declared war on Sunday against Dilma Rousseff's reelection in 2014. The headline of this edition points to alleged fraud in the Workers' Party candidate's 2010 election results.
The report claims to have identified at least 43 campaign workers who were declared in their campaign finance reports to the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) as "volunteer workers," but who allegedly received money for their work during the second round of the election – "the undeclared funds would total donations of around R$ 20,000."
The newspaper features testimonies from 12 of these people who were allegedly located in Mato Grosso and Piauí. One of them, a motorcycle courier from Teresina (PI), says he received R$ 300 plus a tank of gas to drive around the city carrying flags for the PT candidate.
And at the end of the article, Folha delivers its verdict: making campaign payments and not declaring them is a crime of undeclared campaign contributions.
The Workers' Party (PT) denies the accusation and says its accounts were approved. In total, the current president's campaign recorded revenue of R$ 135 million and expenses of R$ 153 million.