Judge Gilmar Mendes said in his request to prosecutors and federal police that there are indications Rousseff’s Workers’ Party was indirectly financed by Petrobras, which is forbidden under law.
Rousseff’s campaign also received funds from companies entangled in a continuing probe into the kickback scheme involving Petrobras, Mendes said.
The investigation into inflated contracts at Petrobras, known as Carwash, has roiled Latin America’s largest nation since allegations spread from oil executives to builders and Rousseff’s allies.
Mendes’ request could further increase pressure on Rousseff, who is already facing a combination of low popularity, slowing economic growth and calls for impeachment. “It is essential that I inform the competent authorities of signs of electoral offenses and prosecutable crimes,” Mendes said in the report submitted on Aug. 21.
Rousseff was re-elected to a second term in October in Brazil’s closest election in the past two decades.
All financial resources used while Rousseff ran for president were received legally, and her campaign accounts were approved unanimously by the top electoral court, known as TSE, according to an e-mailed statement on Saturday by Social Communication Minister Edinho Silva. He was the treasurer of Rousseff’s campaign.
If the TSE rules that Rousseff’s presidential race was illegally funded, it could annul her and her vice president’s election victory. Barring an appeal before the country’s Supreme Court, runner-up Aecio Neves would become president.
More than 50 politicians are being investigated in the Carwash probe, including the former treasurer of Rousseff’s Workers’ Party, Joao Vaccari Neto. On Aug. 20, Eduardo Cunha, the head of the country’s Chamber of Deputies, was accused of having received at least $5 million in the kickback scheme.
bloomberg.com
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