RIO DE JANEIRO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's former Finance Minister Guido Mantega admitted on Monday that he owned an undeclared bank account in a Swiss bank with 600,000 U.S. dollars.
Mantega served as finance minister from 2006 to 2015, during most of the term of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and of the first presidential term of Lula's successor Dilma Rousseff. He also served as minister of planning and budget from 2003 to 2004 in Lula's first term.
The former minister said the account was opened before he became a minister. He denied that the money deposited in the account was bribe. According to him, the money was from the sale of a family property.
Mantega authorized the Brazilian authorities to have full access to his bank and fiscal information. He said he would present the documents that would show the transactions and prove the source of the money once he gets them from the bank.
Mantega released a statement in which he acknowledged his mistake on not having declared the money and said he did not expect any sort of lenience on the matter. But he denied asking for favors or bribes in exchange for anything while in public service.
The former minister is under investigation in the Carwash Operation, a major Federal Police operation that is unraveling a large bribe scheme involving contracts between the government and the private sector. He is suspected to have demanded bribes for campaigns of the Workers Party in 2012.
So far, the investigation is still undergoing. Mantega has not been officially accused.
