José Dirceu defense denies accusations by federal prosecutor

José Luis de Oliveira Lima, the defense lawyer for José Dirceu, the former presidential Chief of Staff (“ministro-chefe da Casa Civil”), a cabinet-level position, declared that his client did not know of the existence of vote buying or details of the administration of the PT while he held office in the Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva government. Specifically, Oliveira Lima refuted the charge that Dirceu was the mentor of the mensalão scheme. He made a point of emphasizing that Dirceu was innocent not because the prosecution’s case was weak, but because the mensalão scheme did not exist.

Oliveira Lima went on to admit that Dirceu wielded enormous influence in the government, as the prosecution charged, but he pointed out that having influence was not a crime.

The defense lawyer said that although Dirceu had long been an important member of the PT that changed when he took over the Casa Civil. According to Oliveira Lima, Dirceu stopped active participation in the affairs of the party when he took an important post in the administration.

One tactic used by Oliveira Lima was to attack Dirceu’s accusers. He called former deputy Roberto Jefferson, the mensalão whistleblower, as “an eloquent speaker who is good at acting” (“bom teatro”).