Antonio Palocci Filho (born 4 October 1960) is a Brazilian

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, and formerly Chief of Staff of Brazil under President Dilma Rousseff. He was the finance minister of the

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian federal government from 1 January 2003 to 27 March 2006, when he resigned in the wake of reports of conduct unbecoming of his office during the presidency of

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...

. He resigned as chief of staff on 7 June 2011.

Early life and career

Palocci was raised in

Ribeirão Preto Ribeirão Preto (Portuguese pronunciation: Help:IPA/Portuguese, �ibejˈɾɐ̃w ˈpɾetu is a city and a metropolitan area located in the northeastern region of São Paulo (state), São Paulo state, Brazil. Ribeirão Preto is the eighth-la ...

, in the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. His father was an

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

. During his youth as a medical student at the University of São Paulo’s Ribeirão Preto Medical School, Palocci took part in several radical movements. He was one of the founders of the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

and was its president in

from 1997 to 1998. After graduation, Palocci worked for five years as a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

at the

regional office of the São Paulo State Public Health Secretariat. He implemented the Workers’ Health Ward and was the director of the regional office of the public health service. When Palocci was 28 years old, after occupying positions in various

labour union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s, including the CUT (linked to the Workers Party) he ran for election as a city councilman ('' vereador'') for the first time. Since then, Palocci has never lost an election. However, he completed only one of his terms (as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Ribeirão Preto, from 1993 to 1996.

Political career

Palocci was elected councilman in Ribeirão Preto in 1988. He did not finish his term but stepped down to for the office of state deputy and won. In 1992, he resigned his term as deputy to become mayor of

, after winning the local election. It is during his administrations as mayor that Palocci is alleged to have led a major slush fund operation (see below) for the Workers' Party, a scheme denounced by a former secretary, . In 1995, he received the

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

’s ''Child and Peace'' prize for his work for the rights of infants and adolescents. In 1996, he received the ''Juscelino Kubitschek Award'' from SEBRAE-SP, the São Paulo chapter of the ''Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas'' (Brazilian Service for Assistance to Small Businesses), for being the mayor of the city in São Paulo state 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 was again mayor of Ribeirão Preto from 2001 to 2002. He resigned in 2002 to work on

's campaign for the Brazilian presidency. In 2003, when Lula was elected, Palocci officially resigned as the mayor of Ribeirão Preto, was nominated the Finance Minister of Brazil and became a key figure in the new government. Along with former minister José Dirceu (who resigned and subsequently lost his political rights due to involvement with the Mensalão scandal), Palocci was considered one of the most influential and strong ministers of Lula’s government. On 1 January 2011, President Dilma Rousseff appointed him chief of staff. He resigned in July 2011.

Corruption crimes and other criminal charges

Antonio Palocci is involved in crimes related to the Mensalão scandal. He is currently sentenced to years in jail under the Car Wash federal operation.other Investigations are still underway .

Ministerial abuse of power

A new scandal began to unfold in 2006 after a parliamentary inquiry heard testimony from two witnesses who claimed that the minister might have visited a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

in Brasília suspected of functioning as a hub for fraudulent operations within the government, with the participation of some of his closest aides. Palocci had previously claimed that he had never been to that house. The main witness in the case was Francenildo Costa, the groundskeeper of the property. He believed the minister had visited the house "on at least ten occasions" and said he recognized Palocci as the man he had seen in the meetings of governmental officials at the house. A few days after Costa's deposition, his bank statement (from government-run

Caixa Econômica Federal The Caixa Econômica Federal (, ''Federal Savings Bank''), also referred to as Caixa or CEF, is a state-owned Brazilian financial services company headquartered in Brasília, Brazil. It is the fourth largest banking institution in Brazil, as ...

) was leaked to the press. It indicated that the groundskeeper had a balance of R$38,860 (about US$18,000.00), which would be incompatible with his income. Congressmen argued that this questionable balance implies bribery potential for contradicting the minister, apparently in an attempt to tarnish the minister's credibility as a

witness In law, a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know. A witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jur ...

. The groundskeeper justified the figures by claiming that the money had been deposited by his alleged biological father, a relatively well-off businessman from the state of

Piauí Piauí ( ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coas ...

, in order to prevent a legal dispute over paternity. Costa's explanation was promptly accepted but not further investigated. The court, the right-wing opposition, and the corporate media turned their full attention to the leaking of the bank statement as a breach of Costa's financial

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

rights. The right-wing opposition and a great part of the corporate media called the release of Costa's bank statement state-orchestrated harassment. The Federal Police of Brazil began an investigation into the case, which soon spiraled into a media circus for the Labor Party: officials and directors at the Caixa Econômica Federal confessed to releasing Costa's bank statement. The alleged chain of command went up as far as the Ministry of Finance, and the bank's chairman said that he handed the details of the account to Palocci personally. The minister denied this, but resigned on March 27, 2006, and was replaced by economist

Guido Mantega Guido Mantega (; born 7 April 1949) is an Italian-born Brazilian economist and politician. Mantega served as Minister of Finance from 2006 to 2015 under the presidencies of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. His tenure as Ministe ...

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Palocci, Antonio 1960 births Living people Brazilian public health doctors People from Ribeirão Preto Ministers of finance of Brazil Workers' Party (Brazil) politicians University of São Paulo alumni Mayors of places in Brazil Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) from São Paulo Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian politicians convicted of corruption Chiefs of staff of Brazil