Brasilia, August 8 (RHC)-- Brazil's coup president Michel Temer was accused of bribery and providing illegal payments to members of his government, according to legal documents obtained by Brazilian media outlet Veja.
A report published by Veja included official plea bargain testimony by Marcelo Odecrecht, a former executive at the Odebrecht construction company, who accuses Temer of soliciting bribes.
As part of his testimony, Odececht alleges that while attending a 2014 state dinner held at the Jaburu Presidential Palace, Temer had requested “financial support” for high-ranking officials within the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB.
Odececht claims that his firm issued cash payments in the months of August and September of that same year, totaling $3.1 million. Obdececht’s testimony goes on to allege that $1.2 million went to Eliseu Padilha, Temer’s current chief of staff, and the additional $1.8 million was received by Paulo Skaf, president of the influential Sao Paulo industry federation.
According to the legal records, the cash transfer of $3.1 million, was later registered in the Odebrecht accounting department, under a division of the finance wing known as the “kickback department.”
In response to the allegations, Temer told Veja magazine that the dinner had taken place in order to discuss “financial aid towards election campaigns of the PMDB,” but that all the conversations and subsequent actions were “in strict accordance with electoral legislation and was later declared to the Electoral Court."
