(ATR) Brazil’s sports minister Orlando Silva has come under fire over corruption claims, and a football chief expects he will soon be replaced.
Originally appointed sports minister by former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during the Rio bid for the 2016 Olympics, Silva was reappointed to the post earlier this year by new Brazilian president Dilma Roussef. Public authority APO has since assumed the bulk of Olympic oversight, Around the Ringsunderstands,but Silva remains in charge of Brazil’s work for the 2014 World Cup.
Silva said over the weekend the allegations he took more than $20 million from public money intended for World Cup-related social programs are "lies."
"It's impressive, so many attacks with no proof," he wrote on his Twitter page.
Investigators even admitted they have not delivered solid evidence against Silva yet.
Rousseff said in a statement she backs her sports minister for the time being.
Her government "doesn't condemn anyone without proof and believes in the civilized principle of presumed innocence," she said.
However, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke reportedly "expects" Rousseff to replace Silva soon.
At a Friday press conference in Zurich, Valcke said he plans to "meet the new representative of President Rousseff who is now conducting World Cup work at the government level" during a trip next month to Brazil.
Corruption in Brazilian government is a widespread problem.
A report in the O Globo newspaper says that since 2003, government officials have taken nearly $38 billion in kickbacks and other improper uses of public funds. However, a Sao Paulo-based business organization pegs the number at more than $400 billion.
Four federal ministers have resigned due to corruption in the past three months.
In a separate scenario, albeit a very untimely one for Silva and Brazilian football, 2014 World Cup chief organizer Ricardo Teixeira returned to the hotseat late last week as investigators re-opened a corruption probe against him from the 1990s. A spokesman refuted the charges against Teixeira as well, calling them "nothing new."
Written by Ed Hula III.
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