Construction Company Andrade Gutierrez Implicated in Dodgy Dealings in Rousseff's 2014 Campaign

04/15/2016 - 09h33

Multinational business conglomerate Andrade Gutierrez used a contract with polling institute Vox Populi to pay for surveys that were used but not declared by Dilma Rousseff's 2014 re-election campaign's communication team.

Folha reported that the construction company had contracted Vox Populi's services in order to acquire data destined for company use. However, the surveys ended up being used to support qualitative research commissioned by the media team for the Worker's Party candidate's re-election campaign.

The contracted payments superseded R$ 10 million (USD 2.8 million), according to Folha's report, a clear indication of the use of slush funds in the campaign process.

The direct transfer of money from Andrade Gutierrez to Vox Populi does not appear on the account records of the campaign, or on those of the Worker's Party.

Ex-executives of the contraction company blew the whistle on the illegal dealings, claiming they had witnessed a previous scheme takes place during the first campaign for Rousseff's presidency in 2010.

The Dilma's 2014 campaign leader stated, in a letter to Folha: "Any affirmation that the Dilma-Temer presidential campaign used Andrade Gutierrez's company to receive research services undertaken by Vox Populi is completely untrue."

The letter, signed by the legal coordinator of the Dilma-Temer campaign, Flávio Caetano, claims the campaign commissioned R$ 11.286 million (USD 3.25 million) in quantitative surveys issued by research institutes Vox Opinião and Oma Assessoria de Pesquisas.

The construction company Andrade Gutierrez said that it would not be commenting on the issue.

Vox Populi's PR department released a statement saying it has "no knowledge of the tenor of the declaration issued by members of the Andrade Gutierrez collaborating with the Lava Jato operation. We have no further comments to make."

Translated by GILLIAN SOPHIE HARRIS

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