Rui challenges whistleblower: 'donations to the PT are legal'

"All our donations are legal, declared, and approved by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court). I can provide the press with a complete list of the donations we received. There is a similarity between what the PT (Workers' Party) and other parties received," stated the national president of the PT, Rui Falcão, to journalists this afternoon. He disputes the testimony of executive Eduardo Leite, who negotiated his freedom with the Lava Jato task force and said what Judge Sergio Moro wanted to hear: "donations to the PT are bribes." Rui Falcão also denied that a request was made to remove João Vaccari Neto from the party and said that "there is an unproven accusation" against the treasurer.

March 17, 2015, 20:37 PMUpdated July 09, 2018, 11:03 pm

"All our donations are legal, declared, and approved by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court). I can provide the press with a complete list of the donations we have received. There is a similarity between what the PT (Workers' Party) and other parties received," stated the national president of the PT, Rui Falcão, to journalists this afternoon; he disputes the testimony of executive Eduardo Leite, who negotiated his freedom with the Lava Jato task force and said what Judge Sergio Moro wanted to hear: 'donations to the PT are bribes'; Rui Falcão also denied that a request was made to remove João Vaccari Neto from the party and said that "there is an unproven accusation" against the treasurer (Photo: Gisele Federicce).

247 - The president of the PT (Workers' Party), Rui Falcão, refuted on Tuesday afternoon, the 17th, to journalists, the accusations made by executive Eduardo Leite in a plea bargain with the Lava Jato task force, that the PT received bribes through donations. "All our donations are legal, declared and approved by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court)," assured the PT leader in a press conference.

"I can provide the press with a complete list of the donations we received. There is a similarity between what the PT and other parties received," added Rui. As reported earlier by 247, Eduardo Leite negotiated his freedom with the Lava Jato investigators and said, after a long imprisonment, what Judge Sergio Moro wanted to hear: 'donations to the PT are bribes'.

The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office of Paraná yesterday filed charges against the PT treasurer João Vaccari Neto for the crimes of corruption, money laundering, and forming a criminal organization, in the tenth phase of the Operation. "He knew about the scheme," stated federal prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol, who affirmed that Vaccari knew that certain donations made legally to the party were bribes.

"In Vaccari's case, there is an unproven accusation," defended Rui Falcão today. He also denied that the PT members themselves requested the treasurer's removal. "I have not received any request for João Vaccari's removal," he said. The party president assured that "any member who is involved in wrongdoing, and this is proven, will be punished according to the party rules."