SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Advisers to Brazil’s Labour Minister Carlos Lupi demanded kickbacks from non-government organizations with government contracts, newsmagazine Veja reported yesterday, citing unnamed lawmakers and officials.
A labour ministry spokesman denied the accusations in a phone interview with Reuters but had no further comment. The NGOs named in the report did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Veja said the officials accused, including Lupi’s former chief of staff Marcelo Panella and former aide Weverton Rochas, who is now a lawmaker, denied the allegations. Efforts to reach Panella and Rochas were not immediately successful.
President Dilma Rousseff has had five ministers resign over ethics breaches since she took office this year, bolstering her reputation as a leader who is tough on corruption but straining relations within her coalition.
The head of the labour minister’s Democratic Labour Party in the lower house of Congress, Giovanni Queiroz, told Reuters the accusations should be investigated and punished harshly if true.
