Minister of Transportation resigns

Yesterday afternoon, the minister of Transportation, Alfredo Nascimento, submitted a letter of resignation. Last weekend, the weekly newsmagazine, Veja, reported that the ministry run by Nascimento was rife with suspicious contract overruns (the ministry had already pumped up its R$11 billion budget for this year to R$16 billion). It is reported that a suspicious flow of money being funneled into the minister’s political party, the PR, was the result of a 4% surcharge (aka bribes) contractors were paying to get ministry business.

It was the second corruption case to hit the six-month old administration of Dilma Rousseff. Antonio Palocci, the presidential Chief of Staff, took 23 days to resign after a newspaper reported that he received millions in consulting fees last year.

Dilma fired all of Nascimento’s closest aides at the ministry the day after the corruption charges became public. The minister lasted five days.

In his letter of resignation, Nascimento declared that he was leaving “in order to spontaneously collaborate with the investigation into activities at the Ministry of Transporation.”

After a vacation in his home state of Amazonas, Alfredo Nascimento will return to take his seat in the Senate and also as president of the PR.