09 September 2010

BRASIL: Serra Pushing Tax Scandal To Slow Rousseff Romp.

BLOOMBERG/ By Andre Soliani and Joshua Goodman /
    Presidential candidate Jose Serra (pictured), looking at a near landslide defeat in October's election, now accuses leading candidate Dilma Rousseff's party of dirty tricks gathering private tax records of his supporters and family. In July, police began an investigation of whether tax officials leaked records of several people close to Serra, including his daughter Veronica and the vice president of his Social Democracy Party.     President Lula has responded: "When someone doesn’t know how to swim, they fall in the water and keep kicking until they drown. That’s what is happening to our adversary (Serra).”
“The scandal is Serra’s life jacket to try to get to a second round,” said consultant Andre Cesar. “But there is no evidence yet that the scandal has hurt Dilma’s campaign.”