Brazil Survives Its Own Watergate p.

By: Si Liberman

Probing media get credit for the demise of a corrupt president
IT'S BEEN a tumultuous six months, but Brazil has survived its own version of Watergate. Democracy and a free press appear to have met the test.
Credit a vigilant, probing media for the demise of a corrupt president and administration.
Fernando Collor de Mello, who in 1989 became the nation's first democratically elected president in 30 years, was impeached last fall three months after hosting the world's first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Action against the 43-year-old president was followed by his indictment on corruption charges and resignation on the heels of a sensational expos? by Veja magazine.
The magazine reported that Collor and his wife reaped enormous profits from an influence-peddling racket ? possibly as much as $200 million ? and this in a Third World country of 150 million people where poverty is rampant.
Veja, South America's largest newsmagazine, showed photos of a $2.5 million garden with eight waterfalls and a giant swimming pool built on Collor's lakefront estate. It said the monies came from collaborators who dispensed government favors.
Citing the president's $30,000-a- year salary and his listed assets at less than $520,000, Veja headlined the pictures "a botanical slap in the face."
There was no mystery about the Deep Throat in this case.
Collor's younger brother blew the whistle, according to Mario Conte, 38-year-old managing editor of the S?o Paulo-based Time magazine clone.
"Pedro Collor told the story to our congressional reporter in Brasilia," Conte said, "When I received a fax about Pedro's accusations, I thought this was so explosive I invited both to come to S?o Paulo to discuss the matter with me before publication."
Pedro, the 37-year-old head of a Mello family newspaper, tv station and three radio stations in the state of Alagoas, was furious.
He said his brother's former campaign treasurer had helped bankroll a competing newspaper and radio conglomerate.
He told Veja that Paulo C?sar Farias, his brother's shadowy former campaign finance director, was splitting kickbacks,
Jealousy also stoked Pedro's anger.
Before moving to Miami for fear of violent retaliation, Pedro told Veja that his brother once tried to seduce his young wife, Maria Theresa, and had introduced him to smoking cocaine and marijuana when they were teen-agers.
Editor Conte said the president was repeatedly given the opportunity to refute the allegations but refused. However, he sent an emissary, his political affairs minister, to the magazine in an apparent effort to discourage publication of the story,
"Special bank accounts ? some in fictitious names ? were uncovered. Deposits had been made by people dealing with Farias," Conte said.
Veja broke the story in a special edition last spring, adding 200,000 copies to its regular 800,000 weekly press run. Since then, circulation has increased 40,000.
Conte said that there was pressure to silence the magazine and retaliate against its owner, Roberto Civita, The president of the government-owned Bank of Brazil investigated the magazine's ownership and raised questions about its reliability and credit-worthiness.
Civita also operates a television station, holds an MTV license and other properties.
"We reported that, too, in a cover story," Conte said.
Veja's revelations unleashed a dizzying flurry of investigations and stories by other publications. They focused on the president's lavish lifestyle and his wife's Parisian buying sprees.
It was learned Collor had purchased a $1.7 million apartment in Paris and was sporting a new convertible Mercedes.
Folho de S?o Paulo, a 400,000-circulation daily newspaper, reported that, shortly after Collor took office, he awarded the government's advertising contract without obtaining bids to the agency that had handled his election campaign, an obvious quid pro quo.
A congressional panel investigating a myriad of corruption reports found
that Farias, Collor's finance guru, had shoveled at least $32 million into Collor family bank accounts since the 1989 election, was giving Mrs. Collor a $20,000 monthly allowance for clothing and jewelry, and had paid the first lady's $33,000 bill for orthodontal work.
Farias has been charged with corruption, fraud and non-payment of taxes. If convicted, he could face a maximum 50-year jail sentence.
The former president's wife Rosane has been charged with misappropriating $200,000 from a national charity she headed.
Since Collor's impeachment last September, Vice President Itamar Franca has been acting as president and is expected to be a candidate if there is a presidential election next year.
On April 21, a national plebiscite will be held to determine whether to retain the presidential form of government or change to a monarchy, republic or parliamentary system.