AMETHYST

sábado, 22 de outubro de 2022

STOP CENSORSHIP WALKING FOR OUR Liberty OCTOBER, 23 SUNDAY - 10AM LIBERTY SQUARE BELO HORIZONTE - MG INFORMATIONS: @CAMILALEITEM/MARCELOTOSTESS

domingo, 26 de dezembro de 2021

LET'S ALL ENTER IN MINDFULNESS STATE TOGETHER ALL DAY FOR THE CULTURE OF PEACE! WHOM WANTS FEEL FREE TO FOLLOW ME! THIS IS WHEEZING MEDITATION ("MEDITACAO DO CHIADO") Heard some wheeze, allow yourself to go INTO ALPHA, INTO MINDFULNESS, INTO A MEDITATIVE STATE! GOOD LUCK!!!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1181631172366371

LET'S ALL ENTER IN MINDFULNESS STATE TOGETHER ALL DAY FOR THE CULTURE OF PEACE! WHOM WANTS FEEL FREE TO FOLLOW ME! THIS IS WHEEZING MEDITATION ("MEDITACAO DO CHIADO") Heard some wheeze, allow yourself to go INTO ALPHA, INTO MINDFULNESS, INTO A MEDITATIVE STATE! GOOD LUCK!!!

[26/12 14:33] THE AMETHYSTER HERALD: SOURCE/LINK:

TO YOU - TARGET INDIVIDUALS FROM IPATINGA, MINAS, BRAZIL AND THE WORLD! WE REMEMBER, TO AWARE THE POPULATION AWARENESS RISKS TO THE HEALTH OF THE USE OF PSYCHOTRONIC WEAPONS, PROPER USE OF EPI-EPC (PERSONAL AND COLLECTIVE PROTECTION EQUIPMENT) AND WE WISH VOTES OF A CHRISTMAS FULL OF HAPPINESS AND A YEAR TO COME!

#PSYCHOTRONIC SECURITY FOR PEACE CULTURE” TEAM

[26/12 14:47] THE AMETHYSTER HERALD: VAMOS TODOS ENTRAR CONJUNTAMENTE O DIA TODO EM MINDFULNESS PELA CULTURA DE PAZ! QUEM QUSER ME ACOMPAHAR SINTA-SE A VONTADE!

Meditação do "CHIADO"

Ouviu algum chiado, permita-se entrar EM ALFA, EM MINDFULNESS, EM ESTADO MEDITATIVO!

[26/12 14:49] THE AMETHYSTER HERALD: ==//==

AOS TI- INDIVÍDUOS-ALVO DE IPATINGA, DE MINAS, DO BRASIL E DO MUNDO!

LEMBRAMOS, CONSCIENTIZAR A POPULAÇÃO RISCOS PARA SAÚDE DO USO DE ARMAS PSICOTRÔNICAS ,USO ADEQUADO DE EPI-EPC (EQUIPAMENTOS DE PROTEÇÃO INDIVIDUAL E COLETIVA) E DESEJAMOS VOTOS DE UMA NATAL REPLETO D

E FELICIDADES E UM ANO VINDOURO PLENO DE REALIZAÇÕES!

#EQUIPE DE SEGURANÇA PSICOTRÔNICA EM PROL DA CULTURA DE PAZ

[26/12 14:50] THE AMETHYSTER HERALD: THE END

LET'S ALL ENTER IN MINDFULNESS STATE TOGETHER ALL DAY FOR THE CULTURE OF PEACE! WHEEZE MEDITATION

SOURCE:https://www.facebook.com/groups/1181631172366371

LET'S ALL ENTER IN MINDFULNESS STATE TOGETHER ALL DAY FOR THE CULTURE OF PEACE! WHOM WANTS FEEL FREE TO FOLLOW ME! THIS IS WHEEZING MEDITATION 0("MEDITACAO DO CHIADO") Heard some wheeze, allow yourself to go INTO ALPHA, INTO MINDFULNESS, INTO A MEDITATIVE STATE! GOOD LUCK!!!

[26/12 14:33] THE AMETHYSTER HERALD: SOURCE/LINK:

#PSYCHOTRONIC SECURITY FOR PEACE CULTURE” TEAM

[26/12 14:47] THE AMETHYSTER HERALD: VAMOS TODOS ENTRAR CONJUNTAMENTE O DIA TODO EM MINDFULNESS PELA CULTURA DE PAZ! QUEM QUSER ME ACOMPAHAR SINTA-SE A VONTADE!

Meditação do "CHIADO"

Ouviu algum chiado, permita-se entrar EM ALFA, EM MINDFULNESS, EM ESTADO MEDITATIVO!

[26/12 14:49] THE AMETHYSTER HERALD: ==//==

AOS TI- INDIVÍDUOS-ALVO DE IPATINGA, DE MINAS, DO BRASIL E DO MUNDO!

E FELICIDADES E UM ANO VINDOURO PLENO DE REALIZAÇÕES!

#EQUIPE DE SEGURANÇA PSICOTRÔNICA EM PROL DA CULTURA DE PAZ

[26/12 14:50] THE AMETHYSTER HERALD: THE END

quinta-feira, 14 de maio de 2020

#In Memorian, Honor to Uncle Murilo Borges as Great Man, even simple / SEE ALSO: #Gabriel Guedes - In Memorian (Clipe Oficial)

SOURCE/LINK: https://www.facebook.com/diariodoconesul/videos/179620086262003/UzpfSTQxNTkyMzc2NTIwMTEyNzpWSzoxNzk2MjAwODYyNjIwMDM/

John 8:32 New International Version (NIV)

32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Que Deus o receba de braços abertos e que Ele conforte os Nossos Amados Parentes

Facebook Group Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/549688965925364/

#In Memorian, Honor to Uncle

Murilo Borges as Great Man,

even simple

(

Date of death on May 9, 2020 )

May God welcome our Uncle Murilo Borges, my Lord receive him, with open arms and may the Lord comfort Our Beloved Relatives (Lucia Sampaio Borges, Alexandre Sampaio Borges and all descendants)

Que Deus o receba de braços abertos e que Ele conforte os Nossos Amados Parentes

==//==

#Gabriel Guedes - In Memorian (Official Clip) / See also: In Memorian, Honor to Uncle Murilo Borges as Great Man, even simple /Gabriel Guedes - In Memorian (Clipe Oficial)

SOURCE / LINK: https://youtu.be/mqN7Tnr_1kY

#GabrielGuedes #SomQueAlimenta #InMemorian

#Gabriel Guedes - In Memorian (Official Clip) / See also: In Memorian, Honor to Uncle Murilo Borges as Great Man, even simple

(Date of death on May 9, 2020 )

1,412,091 views

• Premiered on Nov. 5 of 2019

44 MIL510SHARE & SAVE

Gabriel Guedes

1.28 mi subscribers

REGISTERED

domingo, 23 de junho de 2019

Sergio Moro da resposta avassaladora ao senador Randolfe sobre mensagens...

REACT: JORNALISTA DA GLOBO DEFENDE BOLSONARO, REVELA FARSA DO DESARM4MEN...

Augusto Heleno à Jovem Pan: 'É triste ver Moro interrogado por recordist...

HACKER DE MORO PODE TER RELAÇÃO COM ISLAMISMO

Guten Morgen TV: Destruindo as mentiras do Intercept contra Moro

O caso Moro/Dallagnol e eleição PGR | Feat. Dr. Ailton Benedito | Ao vivo

REACT: JORNALISTA DA GLOBO DEFENDE BOLSONARO, REVELA FARSA DO DESARM4MEN...

sábado, 22 de junho de 2019

INTRODUÇÃO À BIOLOGIA - CARACTERÍSTICAS GERAIS DOS SERES VIVOS

O crime organizado e a Vaza Jato

O Homem Pré-Histórico e Dominio do Fogo - A História da Civilização #01 ...

A Invenção da Roda e o Surgimento das Primeiras Cidades - A História da ...

domingo, 15 de março de 2015

AGENDA DO DIA 15 DE MARÇO DE 2015 EM TODO BRASIL

SOURCE/LINK: https://www.facebook.com/events/1376898842609759/

AGENDA DO DIA 15 EM TODO BRASIL

BRASIL
Águas de Lindoya -SP - Centro 14 h
Apucarana - PR - Catedral Nsra. Lourdes 15hs
Aracaju - Arcos da Orla 9:30hs
Arapiraca -AL - Praça Marques 9:30
Bauru - SP - Av Getúlio Vargas 9h30
Belém - PA - Praça da República 9h30
Belo Horizonte -MG - Praça da Liberdade 15h
Blumenau - SC - Prefeitura Municipal 16h
Brasília - DF - Congresso Nacional 9h30
Campina Grande - PB - Praça da Bandeira 14h
Campinas -SP - Largo do Rosário 16 h
Campo Grande - MS - Praça Ari Coelho 16 h
Caxias -MA - Praça da Matriz 9h
Caxias do Sul -RS - Praça Dante 15h
Criciúma - SC - Parque das Nações Cincinato Naspoline 15 h
Curitiba - PR - Praça Santos Andrade 14h
Dourados - MS - Praça da Igreja Central 15h
Farroupilha RS- Praça da Bandeira Farroupilha 16
Florianópolis - SC - Ticen 16h
Fortaleza - CE - Praça Portugal 10h
Goiania - GO- Praça Tamandaré 14h ( novo local)
Ihéus BA - Praça Cairú 16h
Imperatriz - MA - Praça de Fátima 9h30
Indaiatuba - SP -Estacionamento Parque Ecologico 10hs
João Pessoa - PB - Busto Tamandaré 16h (novo local)
Joinville - SC - Praça da Bandeira 16h
Juiz de Fora - MG - Praça São Matheus 9h30
Lages - SC -Estátua Antônio Correia Pinto 10h
Londrina - PR - Colégio Vicente Rijo as 15 horas ( novo local)
Maceió - AL - Corredor Vera Arruda 8h30
Manaus - AM - Av. Eduardo Ribeiro 9h30
Marabá - PA - Praça Duque de Caxias 16h
Mossoró - RN - Em frente ao Colégio Diocesano 15 h
Natal - RN - Midway Mall 15h
Palmas - TO - Praça dos Girassois 16h
Parnaiba - PI - Balão do Mirante 16 h
Parnamirim - RN - Cohabinal - Gosto e Sabor 15h
Porto Alegre - RS - Parque Moinho dos Ventos 15h
Recife - PE - Praia de Boa Viagem 9h
Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Copacabana posto 5 9h30
Salvador - BA - Farol da Barra 9h30
Santa Maria - RS - Saldanha Marinho 14h
São João Del Rei- MG- Praça da Estação Rodoviária 16:30
São Lourenço do Sul - RS - Prefeitura Municipal 14h
São Luis - MA - Av. Litorânea-Parquinho das Crianças 9h
São Paulo - SP - MASP 14h
Sorocaba - SP - Praça do Canhão 16h
Teresina - PI - Av. Marechal Castelo Branco -Alepi 16h
Tubarão - SC - Praça Central em frente ao Museu 16h ( novo local)
União da Vitoria -PR- Praça Coronel Amazonas 14hs
Vinhedo - SP - Portal 15h
Vitoria - ES - Praça do Papa 16h (novo local)

CIDADES EM OUTROS PAISES QUE VÃO APOIAR

ASUNCIÓN - PARAGUAY - Em frete a Embaixada Brasileira 9 :00h

BOSTON - USA - 175 Purchase St.14:00 hs

LONDRES -INGLATERRA- Trafalgar
Square 14 hs

MIAMI - EUA- 33131 The Torch of Friendship Downtown Miami 12:00h

ORLANDO - EUA - 5403 International Dr, em frente ao Banco do Brasil 13:00h

SYDNEY - Austrália - Martin Place 16h

VANCOUVER - CANADA - Vancouver Art Galery 15h

A cada dia fica mais clara a culpa (por omissão ou negligência da Presidente Dilma nos bilionários escândalos de corrupção envolvendo a Petrobras. Dilma, além de ser Presidente da República há quatro anos, presidiu o Conselho de Administração da Petrobras por quase oito anos (2003-2010) – período onde ocorreram verdadeiras monstruosidades envolvendo recursos da maior empresa do Brasil.

É hora de darmos um basta nisso e mostrarmos que o Brasil não é e nem será de políticos corruptos que se utilizam das nossas riquezas para levarem vantagem e se perpetuarem no poder.

É hora de demandermos o IMPEACHMENT da Presidente Dilma Rousseff!!

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Movimento Brasil Livre

6 de fevereiro · Editado

Comunicado: o Movimento Brasil Livre quer fazer deste evento o maior protesto anti-PT já feito. Para isso, precisamos da contribuição de vocês com os custos das faixas, cartazes, megafones, aluguel do carro de som, etc. Quem quiser ajudar pode entrar neste link do Paypal:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr…

Olá - PayPal

PayPal é a maneira mais fácil e segura de enviar pagamentos online sem revelar o número de seu cartão de crédito.

PAYPAL.COM

domingo, 5 de outubro de 2014

HAPPINESS THROUGH THE BEST DECISION: CHECK OUT "Polls Show Brazil Opposition Candidate ...

HAPPINESS THROUGH THE BEST DECISION: CHECK OUT "Polls Show Brazil Opposition Candidate ...: SÃO PAULO—Two new Brazilian presidential election polls on Thursday showed opposition candidate Aécio Neves within striki..VOLUNTARIADO AÉCIO NEVES

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=846150715429811&set=vb.411754008869486&type=2&theater.

sábado, 4 de outubro de 2014

CARTA ABERTA AO SENADOR E CANDIDATO À PRESIDÊNCIA DA REPÚBLICA, AÉCIO NEVES DA CUNHA e Florentino Cardoso Presidente da AMB Vota em Aécio

SOURCE/LINIK: http://ataqueaberto.blogspot.com.br/2014/10/carta-aberta-ao-senhor-senador-e.html

CARTA ABERTA AO SENADOR E CANDIDATO À PRESIDÊNCIA DA REPÚBLICA, AÉCIO NEVES DA CUNHA

Exmo.Sr.Senador Aécio Neves,

Ao cumprimentá-lo pela passagem para o segundo turno das eleições venho, representando os 14.000 membros do Grupo de Facebook Inglourious Doctor, declarar abertamente nosso apoio ao senhor numa campanha em que terá como adversário o “retrato do mal em si”.

Sabemos, senador Aécio, que muito mais do que o cargo para presidente, é o futuro das pessoas de bem que agora se encontra em jogo no Brasil. Desde 2003 estamos convivendo com os apóstolos da liberação das drogas, dos acordos com o narcotráfico, do aborto, do casamento gay e do alinhamento internacional com forças genocidas como a Al Qaeda, o Regime da Coréia do Norte, da China e do Estado Islâmico do Iraque e da Síria. Todas essas pessoas se reúnem sob a sigla PT (Partido dos Trabalhadores) – a mais corrupta, assassina, e estelionatária organização da história política brasileira que, sob as ordens do Foro de São Paulo, nos quer levar em direção ao regime cubano.

Senhor senador, há 20 anos sou médico, vi minha profissão ser destruída por colegas petistas que não tiveram dúvida em jogar nossa história na lata de lixo e pago hoje pessoalmente o preço de enfrentar essa gente aqui em Porto Alegre. Desde 2013 venho denuciando a farsa do Programa Mais Médicos e eu o tenho feito através do Blog Ataque Aberto, em artigos na Revista VEJA, no próprio grupo de facebook que acima mencionei, na primeira web radio conservadora do Brasil – a Rádio Vox – e na minha atividade diária. Devo dizer ao senhor que há anos venho anulando meu voto mas que, devido à gravidade do panorama político, não tenho dúvidas agora em oferecê-lo ao senhor no segundo turno como já o fiz no primeiro. Jamais fui filiado a partido político algum e longe estou de aceitar as teses do PSDB bem como sua visão de poder como um todo, mas nada me resta a fazer senão subscrevê-los no sentindo de evitar a permanência no poder dos marginais petistas que estão destruindo nossa nação. Comigo estão mais de 14.000 brasileiros que, comungando da mesma posição, acreditam na necessidade urgente de varrer do poder as forças que nos levam no caminho de uma ruptura constitucional completa, de uma crise econômica sem precedentes e de uma falência das nossas instituições. Jamais em toda minha vida escrevi nada em benefício de político algum. Abro agora essa exceção, digna de mais um entre tantos milhões de brasileiros desesperados com o futuro que espera seus filhos, e despeço-me desejando ao senhor nossos melhores votos e a esperança da justa vitória.

Cordiais Saudações,

Dr.Milton Simon Pires – CREMERS 20958

Porto Alegre, 5 de outubro de 2014.

sexta-feira, 3 de outubro de 2014

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SOURCE/LINK: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6d00da0c-1c7c-11e4-98d8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3F8IutBoS

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August 10, 2014 7:27 pm

Brazil’s Petrobras: Tarred by corruption

By Joe Leahy and Samantha Pearson

An investigation into the state oil company has tarnished political reputations

©Reuters

After years of allegedly secret dealings, the men at the centre of what is potentially Brazil’s biggest corruption case made a careless mistake.

In May 2013, convicted black market money dealer Alberto Youssef bought through third parties a luxury car for his friend and alleged accomplice, Paulo Roberto Costa, a former executive at state-oil company Petrobras.

But while negotiating the purchase of the R$250,000 ($110,000) Range Rover Evoque in São Paulo, they put their names together on a seemingly harmless document: a proof of address. It was the only occasion in the mountains of police investigation documents seen by the Financial Times they voluntarily appeared together.

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Federal police swooped. They raided the home of Mr Costa, confiscating the Evoque and more than half a million dollars of cash. Prosecutors allege that the wider extent of corruption that affects Petrobras, including bribes and underhand political donations, amounts to more than R$1bn in inflated contracts. In the process, the police helped throw open Brazil’s October election, turning it from what looked like a one-horse race for President Dilma Rousseff to the closest contest in recent history. As the former chairwoman of Petrobras, the claims threaten Ms Rousseff’s reputation as a capable technocrat. Prosecutors allege the company was used for extensive political donations.

A task force of federal public prosecutors in the state of Paraná, which is leading the probe, said: “The suspects . . . converted R$250,000 extracted from corruption and abuse of public office at Petrobras into a legitimate asset through the purchase of the Land Rover.”

Mr Youssef’s lawyers said the vehicle purchase was not illegal and Mr Costa’s lawyers added that the vehicle was payment for bona fide consultancy services provided to Mr Youssef. Both men are in custody facing charges of money laundering, corruption and abuse of public office.

Brazilians are appalled at accusations that criminals had infiltrated Petrobras, their country’s biggest company, a national icon and a global leader in ultra deepwater oil exploration. The company reported net profit last year of R$23.6bn with production of 2.54m barrels of oil equivalent a day. Petrobras is seen as so important that both the lower house and the Senate have launched inquiries.

“This scandal has contributed greatly to the fall in the popularity of the president,” says Senator Álvaro Dias, of the opposition PSDB, who is participating in one of the congressional inquiries into the case. The president’s approval rating has fallen from above 60 per cent early last year to less than 40 per cent. But Ms Rousseff’s ruling Workers’ party (PT) dismisses claims that Petrobras’s problems have damaged her chances of winning a second term, saying the president has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the scandals.

Beyond party politics, however, the controversy has highlighted what analysts say is a dangerous flaw in Brazil’s national institutions: the ease with which politicians are able to use state companies as a source of illicit campaign funds. “The truth is most parties try to use state-owned enterprises for their benefit,” said Sérgio Lazzarini, a professor at business school, Insper, in São Paulo.

The Petrobras project at the centre of the scandal involving Mr Costa and Mr Youssef is a refinery near Abreu e Lima in north-eastern Brazil.

A square in the small town features two statues, one honouring José Inácio de Abreu e Lima, a revolutionary who left Recife and fought for independence in Venezuela and Colombia. The other is of the Venezuelan general Simón Bolívar, his comrade and another of the continent’s independence heroes. “I guess one must be Abreu and the other is Lima,” says Francisco de Oliveira, a 21-year-old bricklayer, leaning on the monument.

But if the town’s residents seem oblivious to the Brazilian freedom fighter, the Petrobras refinery project has also done little to honour his memory. Envisioned as a partnership between Brazil and Venezuela, the project has become the focus of a police investigation into money laundering, known as Lava Jato, or “Jumbo Wash”, in which Mr Youssef and Mr Costa have been implicated.

In 2006, when the project began construction, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Ms Rousseff’s predecessor and mentor, was pictured with the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez shaking hands at the site. The refinery was meant to be a business joint venture that would process Venezuela’s heavy crude. But Caracas never put a cent into it: even the anti-capitalist Chávez was put off by its escalating costs, former Petrobras executives joke.

From an original budget of $2.5bn, the cost of the 230,000 barrels-a-day refinery soared to $20bn, or $87,000 per barrel of refining capacity. This makes it one of the most expensive ever built, analysts say. The international average cost is between $13,000 and $39,000, according to an estimate from Credit Suisse.

Although a listed company, Petrobras has always been politicised. But oil executives say Mr Lula da Silva and his allies deepened the practice, assigning a larger number of senior positions to political appointees, from the former chief executive José Sergio Gabrielli, a PT member, to Mr Costa, regarded as a representative of the pro-government Progressive party.

“The PT saw . . . that Petrobras could be a great instrument to preserve power,” says Adriano Pires, founder of the Brazilian Centre of Infrastructure, a research company.

The PT rejects such arguments, saying it is just opposition electioneering that irresponsibly taints the reputation of Petrobras. Mr Costa’s lawyer said while he might have had political support, he was a career Petrobras engineer appointed on merit.

It was also from around 2006 that Petrobras embarked on a series of transactions that are now the subject of corruption investigations. These include accusations that it overpaid for a refinery in Pasadena in the US, paying a sum 28 times greater than the original owner, Belgian company Astra, paid for it. Brazil’s TCU – or federal accounts watchdog – ordered the former board of Petrobras to return $792.3m to the company that it calculated as the losses from the $1.18bn Pasadena transaction.

But by far the biggest concern is the Abreu e Lima refinery. According to the prosecutors, the Lavo Jato investigation began as a probe into suspected money laundering by the late José Mohamed Janene, a PP politician. In the process, police discovered fraudulent transactions committed between 2009 and 2013, allegedly by Mr Youssef and Petrobras’s Mr Costa.

Police suspect Mr Youssef to be “the biggest doleiro in national history”, according to an investigation dossier, using the Portuguese term for black market money dealer. He was convicted for financial crimes in 2004.

Mr Costa was appointed Petrobras’ director of fuel supply in 2004 and became the executive responsible for refineries in 2008. Prosecution documents allege Mr Youssef, Mr Costa and conspirators hatched myriad shell company schemes to skim money from Petrobras and then “wash” it by sending it offshore.

“We have indications that Paulo Roberto [Mr Costa] transferred more than $400m offshore through foreign exchange contracts,” says public prosecutor Carlos Fernando Santos Lima.

The prosecution cites, as one example, findings by TCU that contracts awarded to one builder, identified as Consórcio Nacional Camargo Corrêa, were inflated in value by as much as R$446m. This company had in turn contracted two others, Sanko Sider and Sanko Serviços, to supply materials and services, paying them R$113m over four years.

These two, in turn, paid R$26m to an alleged shell company, MO Consultoria, controlled by Mr Youssef, and other undisclosed sums to another of his alleged shells, GFD. This money then allegedly made its way offshore.

CNCC told the FT in response to the allegations that it won its contracts through legitimate public tenders. It said it was co-operating with investigators. A spokesman for the Sanko companies said all transactions were legitimate and made through the conventional banking system. He added that the companies were assisting the investigation.

Prosecutors allege evidence seized from Mr Costa indicated he negotiated with Petrobras’s contractors to make political donations. They point to a document in which he wrote the names of six big Petrobras contractors that donated a total of R$35.3m to parties in the governing coalition during the 2010 election. Prosecutors allege the document could be “treated as a spreadsheet for possible campaign donations, in which Mr Costa acted as an intermediary for these contributions with companies that had contracts with Petrobras”.

Mr Costa’s lawyers said the prosecutors’ accusations against him are baseless “assumptions”. They also said there was no evidence of inflating of contracts. “The criteria adopted by the prosecution are contestable and this will become clear as the case progresses.” Mr Youseff also denies the allegations, his lawyers said.

PT politicians also said it was too early to draw conclusions about political donations. They said Petrobras’s problem is its commercial independence and ability to award contracts without the open tenders that would be required of a public ministry.

Congressman Marco Maia, who is leading a lower house congressional inquiry, said lawmakers would review Petrobras’s procurement processes to make them more accountable. “We will change the legislation and democratise the procurement and information-sharing process of Petrobras.”

At the Abreu e Lima refinery, rain clouds are clearing and workers trudge back through the thick red mud of the construction site. A cleaner says many workers “vanish as soon as it rains”, explaining the delays in the project.

Like the refinery project, mud from the Abreu e Lima scandal has splattered Ms Rousseff’s election campaign, damaging her reputation as a competent manager.

But analysts doubt that much of it will stick to her. She was recently cleared by the TCU of wrongdoing in the Pasadena scandal. She has also installed career Petrobras engineer, Maria das Graças Foster, as CEO, who has “cleaned out” most of the political appointees, former Petrobras executives say.

“Petrobras will continue to be a negative source of news for her during the election but the key risk factor for her is a weakening economy,” says João Augusto de Castro Neves of Eurasia Group, a consultancy.

More worrying for Brazil is the apparent propensity of state-owned companies to be used by politicians intent on financing their campaigns. Furnas, the federal power company, has also been embroiled in corruption allegations linked to the 2002 elections which the former managers of the company have previously denied.

A tougher anti-corruption law could help but enforcement will be vital. Brazil’s convoluted legal system often allows those with good lawyers to avoid jail. “This new law is a good thing but our track record of punishment is not very bright,” said Mr Lazzarini of Insper.

One man who seemed to understand the problem of endemic corruption was Mr Costa. In a notebook seized by police from his home, he jotted down a quote from Millôr Fernandes, the Brazilian writer, that captured the cynicism many feel about the country’s politics.

“Rooting out corruption is the ultimate goal of those who have not yet come to power,” he scrawled.

Additional reporting by Thalita Carrico

The killer fish adding to a port’s woes

Making small talk in Brazil typically involves discussing football or the traffic but in the northeastern city of Recife, shark attack anecdotes are a popular icebreaker,writes Samantha Pearson.

There is the tale of the surfer whose wife divorced him after a shark bit off both his arms or the teenage girl who had four heart attacks when her foot was left hanging by a thread.

From shop workers to hotel concierges, everyone has a story to tell about the killer fish that have been responsible for gruesome injuries and at least one death a year for the past two decades.

“I’m not scared – I still swim here all the time,” boasts one man on Recife’s main beach, ignoring placards advising bathers not to enter the water, especially when they are drunk, wearing shiny objects or during a full moon.

But Recife has not always resembled the setting of one of Gabriel García Márquez’s magic realism novels. Researchers say the shark attacks began in the early 1990s after the construction of the nearby Suape port, the 13,500-hectare industrial complex that is home to Petrobras’s Abreu e Lima refinery.

“The intensification of maritime traffic and the impact of the port’s construction on the ecosystem have been identified as the main causes of this outbreak of attacks,” says Fábio Hazin, a professor at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco.

Sharks like to follow the ships, probably because many vessels discard waste food into the sea. They are then pulled by the current towards Recife’s main beach, where they mistake humans for prey, says Professor Hazin.

For critics of Petrobras’s Abreu e Lima refinery, which is embroiled in corruption allegations, the shark attacks and environmental concerns over Suape have been yet another reason to object to the state-controlled oil company’s project.

“Sustainability is not a concept that was central to [Suape],” according to the non-profit organisation, Instituto Ethos. “Now we have to compensate for and fix the consequences of the measures that were taken.”

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Letter in response to this article:

It’s no mistake, sharks eat humans / From Mr Richard Maudslay

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