Mensalão scandal

Uncommon card · No. 88463

The Mensalão scandal (Portuguese: Escândalo do Mensalão, IPA: [isˈkɐ̃dɐlu du mẽsɐˈlɐ̃w]) was a major parliamentary scandal in 2005 that threatened to bring down the government of Brazil, in which Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration was accused of vote-buying. Mensalão is a neologism, an augmentative variant of the word for "monthly payment" (salário mensal or mensalidade). The scandal broke on June 6, 2005 when Brazilian deputy Roberto Jefferson (Brazilian Labour Party) told the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper that the ruling Workers' Party (PT) had paid a number of deputies 30,000 reais (around US$12,000 at the time) a month to vote for legislation favored by the ruling party. The funds allegedly came from state-owned companies' advertising budgets, funneled through an advertising agency owned by Marcos Valério. The investigation then implicated members of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, Democrats, Brazilian Democratic Movement Party and seven other political parties also involved...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Marcello Casal Jr./ABr, Attribution