Antonio Palocci
From Freepedia
Antonio Palocci Filho is a Sanitarian and physician and is the Minister of Finance in the current government of Brazil.
He graduated in medicine from the University of São Paulo’s Ribeirão Preto Medical School.
During his youth, Palocci took part of several radical left-wing movements, notably in Libelu, a Brazilian Trotskyism organization. He is one of the founders of the Workers' Party and he was the President of the Workers’ Party from 1997 to 1998.
Antonio Palocci worked for five years as a civil servant in the Ribeirão Preto office of the São Paulo State Public Health Secretariat. He inaugurated the Workers’ Health Ward and he was the director of the regional office of the Public Health Service.
When Palocci was 28, after occupying positions in various labour unions, including the CUT (linked to the Workers Party) he ran for election as councilman for the first time. Since then, Palocci has never lost an election. However, he completed only one of his terms (as Mayor of Ribeirão Preto from 1993 to 1996).
Palocci was elected councilman of Ribeirão Preto in 1988. He didn’t finish his term because stepped down to run in the election for the office of state deputy (which he won). In 1992, he resigned his term as deputy to assume the role of mayor of Ribeirão Preto, after being victorious in the local election.
In 1995, he received UNICEF’s Child and Peace prize for his work for the rights of infants and adolescents. In 1996, he received the Juscelino Kubitscheck Award from SEBRAE-SP (the São Paulo Chapter of the Brazilian Service for Assistance to Small Businesses), for being the mayor of the São Paulo state city who offered the best support to small business. In 2002, he received the Mário Covas Award from SEBRAE again for his work on behalf of local small businesses.
Palocci was elected federal deputy in 1998. In 2000, he resigned his office so that he could run again in the mayoral election in Ribeirão Preto. He won the election, and thus was mayor of Ribeirão Preto again from 2001 to 2002. He resigned in 2002 so he could help Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva campaign for the Brazilian presidency.
In 2003, Palocci officialy resigned as the mayor of Ribeirão Preto and was nominated the Finance Minister of Brazil.
Along with former minister José Dirceu, Palocci is considered one of the most influential and strong ministers of Lula’s government.
Corruption scandal
In 2005, Antonio Palocci was involved in the Mensalão scandal, after being accused by Rogério Buratti, his former secretary in the Ribeirão Preto administration.
Acording to Buratti, between 2001 and 2004, Palocci received a R$50,000 monthly payment from Leão & Leão, a gargage collection company.
Palloci denied this and criticized the spreading of false information by the public prosecution service.
Some politicians tried in 2005 to call the minister so he could be heard by one of the CPIs that are investigating the Brazilian scandals. However, no petition of this sort was ever approved.
Due to his highly respected actions as Minister of Finance, the investigations of Palocci were dismissed in spite of the gravity of the accusations.
