Former Brazilian Finance Minister Antônio Palocci and two others were arrested Monday on accusations of bribery, money laundering and influence-peddling. Palocci was Finance Minister from 2003 to 2006. In 2010, he was national campaign manager for President Dilma Rousseff and served in 2011 as the president’s chief-of-staff. Police accused Palocci of master-minding a plan to obtain payments from contractors with the proceeds used to finance political campaigns of the ruling PT (Partido dos Trabalhadores). Police said they have identified at least R$128 million in such payments, mainly from leading contractor Odebrecht.
Link to government news agency release
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