On Saturday, Brazilian’s media outlet Veja reported that jailed former executive at the Odebrecht company has told prosecutors he contributed illegally to the election campaign of now-interim President Michel Temer in 2014. In the plea bargain viewed by Veja, Odebrecht said Temer asked him for campaign funds in 2014 when he was vice president and seeking re-election on the ticket of now-suspended President Dilma Rousseff.

He admitted to contributing  6 million reais (US$1.8 million) from an office in his company that handled secret payments, according to Veja. Temer’s spokesman confirmed that the meeting had taken place and said his aide, Eliseu Padilha, asked Odebrecht for a campaign contribution.

"But it was all legal," spokesman Marcio de Freitas told Reuters. He said the donated money had been duly registered with Brazil's electoral authorities, but gave no details.

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Brazil has been subject to a massive fraud scheme in the state-owned oil giant Petrobras, while suffering a contractive economy (it has the biggest recession since 1930). Among the crisis, the opposition led by Eduardo Cunha, linked President Dilma Rouseff to the scandal. Eduardo Cunha himself has been asked to step down by the Brazilian Supreme Court as he’s also said to be implicated in the scandal and has also appeared in the Panama Papers. While President Dilma Rouseff’s impeachment trial is taking place, Michel Temer has taken her post as Interim President.

The new government assigned by Temer has been making various changes, in which government spending is being cut which they claim will help better the economy, whereas critics point out the reforms are being conducted at the cost of social benefits. During this time, a third minister, appointed by the Interim President had been denounced due to links to corruption (following the  resignation of the Minister of Transparency ). Brazilian Senior Minister Romero Jucá had also stepped down amid leaked phone conversations. Temer has also been linked to the corruption scandal before by the allegations made by a former Petrobras executive, Sergio Machado. A verdict in the impeachment trial will come after the Olympics.

For more on the impeachment (accuser’s point of view) click here and here.
For more on the impeachment (defendant’s point of view) click here and here.