The Minister of Sports, Orlando Silva,is accused of corruption

18/10/2011 - 17h24Sports Minister is accused of corruption
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 18 2011 (AFP)-The Minister of Sports, Orlando Silva, a folder that holds the key in organizing the World Cup and 2014 Olympic Games in 2016, is the fifth member of the government accused Rousseff and corruption will be investigated by the police and justice.The minister Orlando Silva categorically denies the charges, but the image of the country, which had four ministers dropped in a few months on charges of corruption, has been impaired, experts believe."The country's image has certainly been affected. (A directory of Sport) is a very vulnerable, very visible, responsible for preparations for the World Cup", said on Tuesday told AFP the political scientist Fernando Lattman-Weltman, a researcher Getulio Vargas Foundation."The damage to the credibility of the country to host the World Cup and the Olympics (Olympics 2016) is very large. If the complaint is well founded, should be investigated immediately," he added.The minister was accused by a police scheme to lead a diversion of public funds to NGOs linked to the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), and of receiving bribes in the garage of the ministry, in an article published this weekend by Veja magazine.The officer, who also belonged to the PCdoB, drove two organizations kung fu and was arrested last year on charges of misappropriate the money for a government program to stimulate sports among young people in need."I reject the publication of information that is false, that have no consistency," said the minister on Tuesday to defend himself against accusations in Congress. The minister called the police who accused him of "criminal" and warned of the risk of establishing in Brazil a "modern inquisition" in which "people are accused without proof."Orlando Silva called on Monday for investigation by the Federal Police and the Public Ministry, which announced that they intend to call them to give explanations, after his return from Madrid (where are played the Pan American Games).The President Rousseff not taken personal defense of his minister, but stressed the presumption of innocence."We do not just presume innocence, he has spoken with a lot of anger in relation to the charges. The government closely monitors all complaints, inquiries and investigations," said Dilma on Monday in Pretoria, where he is attending a summit with their counterparts in South Africa and India.The president said, however, that it is necessary to toughen the rules to address "weaknesses in the covenants" of the government with NGOsAccording to the Brazilian press, the position of Smith may be more impaired if FIFA or the International Olympic Committee pushing for his departure."This is a typical case of Brazil, which confirms the great vulnerability of the state to corruption due to the way it is administered," he told AFP Claudio Abramo, director of Transparency Brazil."The government traditionally distributes thousands of government jobs in exchange for political support. This is what generates corruption," he said.Abramo said that Brazil attaches by political criteria only 90,000 jobs in the federal government (regardless of the state governments and municipalities), compared to about 9,000 in the United States, 500 in Germany and France and around 300 in the UK.The fall of four ministers in 100 days, following accusations of corruption and scandals in Congress, inspired protests called by the social networks, demanding a "clean" in public.Dilma is seen as a president who tries to tackle corruption more vigorously than Lula, and watch your popularity achieve good rates, currently at 71%.After a barrage of complaints in the press, in September the Minister of Tourism, Pedro Novais, resigned, in August was the Agriculture, Wagner Rossi, and fell before the Transport, Alfredo Nascimento, and the minister's chief of staff, Antonio Palocci.

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