Graft money skimmed from overpriced contracts to build the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon funded President Dilma Rousseff’s 2010 and 2014 election campaigns, a ruling Workers’ Party senator has testified according to newsweekly IstoE.
If confirmed and accepted as legal evidence, the testimony of Senator Delcidio do Amaral will deepen a political crisis that threatens to topple Rousseff, whose opponents are seeking to impeach her or annul her re-election due to corruption.
In plea bargain statements to prosecutors, Amaral said a graft scheme mounted during the government of Rousseff’s predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, funneled 45 million reais (12.5 million) from Belo Monte contracts into the campaign coffers of the ruling Workers’ Party and its ticket partner, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), IstoE reported.
A spokesman for Lula declined to comment on the report. Calls to Rousseff’s office were not returned while Amaral’s spokesman said the senator would not comment of the magazine report.
Brazil Energy Insight 
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