Weekly Report - 13 September 2012 (WR-12-36)

Brazil’s supreme federal court has now found eight of the 38 defendants in the mensalão corruption trial guilty. Ominously, the recording magistrate, Joaquim Barbosa, mentioned the chief defendant, the former minister of the presidency José Dirceu, when handing down his guilty sentences late last week against three of the four defendants connected to the state-owned Banco Rural. Banco Rural is accused of giving the ruling Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) preferential treatment, including authorising loans without guarantees. The three, Katia Rabello, José Roberto Salgado and Vinícius Samarane, all former directors of the bank, were found guilty of the mismanagement of a financial institution by the 10 sitting judges. The fourth, Ayanna Tenorio, was acquitted by nine votes to one.

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