Brazil’s city minister resigns
over corruption allegations

Brasilia, 3 February 2012: Brazil’s Minister of Cities resigned yesterday amid allegations of corruption. Mario Negromonte, who held the office since Dilma Rousseff succeeded Lula da Silva as president, was a member of the Progressive Party (PP), which is allied to the country’s ruling left-wing Workers’ Party (PT). Negromonte is accused of awarding public work contracts to companies that had financed his party. In a short statement he denied all accusations and said his resignation was in no way an indication of guilt.

According to various media reports, Negromonte’s office was allegedly involved in inflating costs of transport projects in Cuiaba (Mato Grosso), one of the locations for the 2014 World Cup.

Mario Negromonte will be replaced by Aguinaldo Ribeiro, who himself has already attracted some media interests over alleged nepotism. Estadao, the political website of the newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo reported that Ribeiro asked the then cities minister Negromonte to approve a housing programme in Pilar, Paraiba. Ribeiro’s mother, Virginia Veloso Borges, is the mayor of Pilar. The programme has now been put on hold.

The newspaper also reported that, while a member of the Brazilian upper house, Ribeiro helped pass legislative measures which resulted in R$780,000 in funding for education and health projects in the town of Campina Grande, another city in Paraiba, where his sister, Daniella Ribeiro, is a prospective candidate for mayor.