BRASILIA, July 3 (Xinhua) -- The Public Ethics Commission of the Brazilian Presidency on Monday opened an investigation into the conduct of six officials and ex-officials, based on the confession by the executives from a meatpacking company JBS.
Those under investigation include Minister for Science and Technology Gilberto Kassab and Minister for Development, Industry and Trade Marcos Pereira.
Kassab is alleged to have received 350,000 reais (105,000 U.S. dollars) a month by issuing false receipts during his time as Minister for Cities and in his current role, with his gains totaling close to 30 million reais (9 million U.S. dollars).
Pereira is being investigated for allegedly having received close to 500,000 reais (150,000 U.S. dollars) a month from JBS for a total of 6 million reais (1.8 million U.S. dollars), in exchange for helping the company obtain a line of credit at a public bank, Caixa Economic Federal (CEF).
Both Kassab and Pereira said they were innocent and hope the investigation would prove their innocence.
Three former ministers and a vice-president of CEF are also under investigation. They will have 10 days to present the information being requested.
The ethnic commission was founded in 1999 by then-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
