US embassy cable - 05BRASILIA2758

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 002758 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, ECON, BR, Domestic Politics 
SUBJECT:  BRAZIL CORRUPTION SCANDAL UPDATE, WEEK OF 10-14 
OCTOBER 2005 
 
Ref: Brasilia 2687 and previous 
 
1.  (U) SUMMARY.  On October 12, the Brazilian Civilian 
Police found the body of Carlos Delmonte Printes, the 
medical examiner who initially determined that Santo 
Andre's PT Mayor Celso Daniel had been tortured before 
being shot dead in early 2002.  Printes' death marked the 
seventh among persons in one way or another connected with 
the Daniel case.  Also this week, five PT congressmen 
requested the STF to delay the opening of their impeachment 
process. If the STF rejects the request, they may resign on 
Monday, October 17. Four PP congressmen and another from 
the PMDB faced with similar charges are watching the 
results of this appeal before deciding their own course of 
action. Meanwhile, the results of the PT internal election 
of last Sunday are almost all in - to the point that Raul 
Pont has conceded victory to Ricardo Berzoini as the 
party's next president. END SUMMARY. 
 
SEVENTH DEATH RELATED TO CELSO DANIEL CASE 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
2.  (U) On October 12, Carlos Delmonte Printes, 55, the 
medical examiner who initially determined that Santo Andre 
PT Mayor Celso Daniel had been tortured before being 
murdered in early 2002, was found dead in his Sao Paulo 
office.  The Brazilian Civilian Police found the body with 
no apparent signs of violence; however, a preliminary 
report released by the Sao Paulo Medical Law Institute 
stated that Printes did not die of "natural causes".  The 
final report is likely to be released in 10 days and the 
possibility of suicide seems most probable (although 
homicide has not yet been absolutely ruled out). 
 
3.  (U) Printes initial analysis indicated that the mayor 
was tortured before being shot dead. But the final report 
released at the time did not confirm Printes' findings.  In 
early 2005, Printes publicly stated that he had been 
pressured by politicians to say that Daniel's murder was 
the result of common crime -- kidnapping followed by murder 
-- and repudiate his torture accusations.  Printes' death, 
just days before a confrontation in the Bingos CPI between 
Gilberto Carvalho -- President Lula's chief of staff, who 
is accused by the Daniel family of involvement in an 
alleged Sao Andre municipal corruption scandal that the 
mayor was about to expose -- and Daniel's brothers, Joao 
Francisco and Bruno, elevated the level of suspicion among 
some congressmen.  "This is the seventh death related to 
the Celso Daniel case.  Printes' death gives more 
credibility to the thesis of a political crime", stated 
Jose Agripino, an opposition (PFL) leader in the Senate. 
(NOTE: The CPI on Bingo activities is also investigating 
corruption in PT-dominated municipalities, which some 
analysts contend set the stage and established the model 
for the national-level corruption scheme led by elements of 
the PT and exposed in recent months, per refs.  END NOTE.) 
 
4.  (U) The six deaths previously related to the Daniel 
case were those of: Dionisio Aquino Severo, one of Daniel's 
kidnapers, killed in jail three months after the murder; 
Sergio "Orelha", who sheltered Severo after the crime, shot 
dead in November 2002; police investigator Otavio Mercier, 
killed in July 2003; Antonio Palacio Oliveira, the waiter 
who served Daniel the night he was killed, chased by two 
men and killed after having crashed his motorcycle into a 
pillar in February 2003; Paulo Henrique Brito, who 
witnessed the death of the waiter, killed 20 days later; 
and coroner official Iran Moraes Redua, who first 
recognized Daniel's body, shot dead in December 2003. 
 
CONGRESSMEN TRY TO DELAY EXPULSION 
------------------------------------- 
 
5. (U) On October 13, five of the six PT congressmen who 
may face an impeachment process in the Chamber requested 
that the Supreme Federal Court (STF) delay the opening of 
investigations against them in the Lower House's Ethics 
Committee, initially scheduled for Monday, October 17. 
Joao Paulo Cunha, Jose Mentor, Professor Luizinho, Paulo 
Rocha, and Josias Gomes, accused of receiving illegal money 
from "bagman" Marcos Valerio, argue that the Chamber's 
presidency did not assess their cases separately, as 
requested by the STF, and, therefore, should not forward 
them to the Ethics Committee.  If this appeal is not 
successful, some of the congressmen may well resign on 
Monday, in order to avoid formal ethics proceedings that 
could lead to the loss of their political rights. 
Meanwhile, four similarly accused PP (Progressive Party) 
congressmen - Jose Janene, Pedro Correa, Pedro Henry and 
Vadao Gomes, as well as Jose Borba of the PMDB - are 
watching the fate of the "petistas'" appeal before deciding 
their own course of action. 
 
RESULTS FROM PT INTERNAL ELECTIONS 
----------------------------------- 
 
6. (U) Almost all the results have been counted from the 
second round of last Sunday's internal PT elections. And 
the outcome is that Ricardo Berzoini of the incumbent Campo 
Majoritario faction has bested Raul Pont (standard-bearer 
of more leftist elements) by a narrow margin and will 
become president of that party on October 19. Berzoini's 
victory is a positive development for President Lula -- who 
did not want to see critics of his faction and government 
assume the leadership of the PT. But, on the basis of 
voting percentages in the first round, its new chief will 
have to preside over a national leadership council within 
which the "Campo Majoritario" (the centrist faction 
associated with Lula's government but discredited by the 
past five months of scandals) no longer enjoys its majority 
standing of the past. 
 
 
DANILOVICH