THE INFLUENCE-peddling scandal which has enveloped Brazil's SIVAM Amazon-surveillance project has claimed another victim. A third Government official has resigned after being accused of ordering the telephone wiretap which led to the resignations of a Presidential aide and Brazil's air force minister (Flight International, 29 November-5 December).
A Brazilian Senate panel has begun hearings into the allegations of influence-peddling after leaked transcripts of a telephone conversation between the Presidential aide and a representative of SIVAM prime-contractor Raytheon. The tape suggests that the aide used his position to lobby for Senate approval of the external financing arranged for the SIVAM.
Source: Flight International