The nominee to be Brazil’s next tourism minister used more than US$1,000 in state funds to pay for a party at a hotel commonly used for sexual encounters, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Although the allegations involve a secondary figure in Brazilian president-elect Dilma Rousseff’s incoming government, Brazilians have been sensitive to even the smallest charges of corruption since a pay-for-votes scandal in 2005 nearly brought down Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The tourism ministry will also play an increased role in Rousseff’s government, which takes office on Jan. 1, due to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics to be held in Brazil.
PARTY PEOPLE
In a front-page story, Estado de S.Paulo newspaper said that incoming minister Pedro Novais, 80, held the party at the Hotel Pousada Caribe in June while he was still a lower-house deputy in the national Congress.
Novais then billed Congress for the 2,156 reais (US$1,268) charge, Estado reported.
Hotels that charge per couple, by the hour — known simply as “motels” — are common in Brazil and used by people for sex. Estado published a picture of a pink-walled room that it said Novais rented, which included a circular bed, pool and sauna.
Novais issued a statement on Wednesday calling the report a “lie” and said that he had “never” visited the hotel.
ACCOUNTING ERROR
He said his office had “improperly” submitted the receipt to Congress and that the “error ... is being quickly corrected.”
The statement did not provide further details.
Earlier, Estado published a separate statement from Novais saying that he used the money to house advisers and political allies in the hotel.
Novais is a member of the PMDB party, the largest member of Rousseff’s 10-party coalition and a critical bloc of support for her planned economic reforms in Congress.
The party’s reputation for corruption has posed risks for Rousseff as she tries to meet its demands for key ministerial appointments.
A spokesman for Rousseff’s office declined to comment.
When a hiker fell from a 55m waterfall in wild New Zealand bush, rescuers were forced to evacuate the badly hurt woman without her dog, which could not be found. After strangers raised thousands of dollars for a search, border collie Molly was flown to safety by a helicopter pilot who was determined to reunite the pet and the owner. A week earlier, an emergency rescue helicopter found the woman with bruises and lacerations after a fall at a rocky spot at the waterfall on the South Island’s West Coast. She was airlifted on March 24, but they were forced to
CONFIDENCE BOOSTER: ’After parkour ... you dare to do a lot of things that you think only young people can do,’ a 67-year-old parkour enthusiast said In a corner of suburban Singapore, Betty Boon vaults a guardrail, crawls underneath a slide, executes forward shoulder rolls and scales a steep slope, finishing the course to applause. “Good job,” the 69-year-old’s coach cheers. This is “geriatric parkour,” where about 20 retirees learned to tackle a series of relatively demanding exercises, building their agility and enjoying a sense of camaraderie. Boon, an upbeat grandmother, said learning parkour has aided her confidence and independence as she ages. “When you’re weak, you will be dependent on someone,” she said after sweating it out with her parkour classmates in suburban Toa Payoh,
Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen (高兟), famous for making provocative satirical sculptures of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東), was tried on Monday over accusations of “defaming national heroes and martyrs,” his wife and a rights group said. Gao, 69, who was detained in 2024 during a visit from the US, faces a maximum three-year prison sentence, said his wife, Zhao Yaliang (趙雅良), and Shane Yi, a researcher at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders group which operates outside the nation. The closed-door, one-day trial took place at Sanhe City People’s Court in Hebei Province neighboring the capital, Beijing, and ended without a
‘TOXIC CLIMATE’: ‘I don’t really recognize Labour anymore... The idea that you can implement far-right ideas in order to stop the far right is nonsense,’ a protester said Tens of thousands of people on Saturday marched through central London to protest against the far right, weeks ahead of local elections and six months after Britain saw one of its largest far-right demonstrations. Organized by hundreds of civic groups, including trade unions, anti-racism campaigners and Muslim representative bodies, Saturday’s Together Alliance event was billed as the biggest in UK history to counter right-wing extremism. A separate pro-Palestinian march had also converged with the main rally. While organizers claimed 500,000 had turned out in total, the police gave a figure of about 50,000. Protesters carrying placards with slogans such as
RSS