‘Viagra’ and other code names in Brazil’s corruption scandal
BRAS LIA: The politicians caught up in Brazil’s biggest ever corruption scandal are well known to the public. But their alter egos, like ‘Viagra’ and ‘BMW,’ less so.
Odebr e cht , the massive engineering company that admits to systematic bribery of politicians, has revealed that code names were given to its long list of alleged bribetakers.
The graft was so widespread that Odebrecht set up a whole department to handle payments. However, given the illegal nature of the business, they referred to politicians with an imaginative series of handles, published in full on Monday by G1 news site.
Some congressmen were given wholesome sounding labels, like “Cowboy” and “Fisherman.” Others got more fanciful treatment: “Princess” for a deputy state governor called Cida Borghetti or “Muse” for the state lawmaker Ana Paula Lima.
“BMW” was the name given to congressman Beto Mansur, while “Viagra” was another deputy, Jarbas Vasconcelos.
Some nicknames invented by Odebrecht indicated little love lost, apart from the love of illicit money making, of course.
Senator Jader Barbalho became “Crocodile,” congressman Paes Landim was “Decrepit,” Senator Humberto Costa was “Dracula” and another senator, Edison Lobao, was memorialised as “Squalid.”
As for Rio de Janeiro’s exmayor, who is accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes during preparations for last year’s Olympics, he was filed under “The little nervous one.”
To organise its files on the political parties taking bribes, Odebrecht swapped party names for famous football clubs. The leftist Workers’ Party became Flamengo and today’s main ruling centreright coalition partners PMDB and PSDB became Internacional and Corinthians. — AFP