President Temer Led Meeting to Set Bribes, Says Informer

04/13/2017 - 12h52

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FROM BRASÍLIA

A former executive of Brazilian construction company Odebrecht said in a plea bargain that, while President Michel Temer was a candidate to vice president in 2010, he led a meeting in São Paulo in which he set the payment of US$ 40 million in bribes pertaining to 5% of a contract signed between Odebrecht and Petrobras.

In a written record and a video statement, Márcio Faria da Silva said that the meeting occurred in Temer's political office in Alto de Pinheiros at 11:30 on July 15.

Then-president of Odebrecht Engenharia Industrial, responsible for industrial construction in Brazil and abroad, Silva says he was impressed by how naturally the bribes were demanded.

Silva says that, in addition to Temer, who sat "at the head of the table," Rogério Araújo, another executive, and then-federal deputies Eduardo Cunha (RJ) and Henrique Eduardo Alves (RN) of the PMDB and lobbyist João Augusto Henriques also attended the meeting.

"It was the only time that I met with Michel Temer and Henrique Eduardo Alves, and I was impressed by the informal way they dealt with the theme of 'political party contribution' – which was in fact sheer bribes – during the meeting," said Silva.

The Brazilian government says that "President Michel Temer has never held meetings to discuss resources" with the informer and "the president firmly denies any involvement with dubious business." "Temer has never worked for his own benefit at Petrobras, nor has he defended the payment of undue resources to third parties."

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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