Special advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture, ruralist Carlos Augustin, known as Teti, lent a plane to Edinho Silva, candidate for president of the PT, to take a campaign trip in the party’s internal dispute earlier this month.
In an interview with, on Monday (14), Edinho had said that a rural producer affiliated to PT gave his aircraft to move from Palmas (TO) to Cuiabá (MT) on April 5, for lack of career flights.
“From Palmas to Cuiabá indeed has a PT affiliate, who is a rural producer, he does not have a jet, far from it. He sent a plane to pick me up, because otherwise I would not clap to Cuiabá,” he said.
He declined to reveal who the supporter was, however. “Mato Grosso PT militants know who he is.”
Augustin, one of the PT’s main leaders linked to agribusiness, confirmed the panel that it is the plane. Brother of Arno Augustin, former secretary of the National Treasury in the Dilma Rousseff government, made a fortune as seed producer in the Midwest.
“I knew from party companions that Edinho would not be able to get to Cuiabá, so I sent my plane to pick him up,” he said.
Affiliated two years ago to PT, Augustin says he has no militancy in party currents, but has identified himself with Edinho’s positions on various topics.
“I became a complete admirer of Edinho. Everything I think he thinks the same, the need to face the theme of public security, to understand the Evangelical Movement, to know that entrepreneurship is part of today’s citizen’s agenda,” he said.
Internal campaign financing has been generating controversy in the party since Valter Pomar, who is also a candidate for president of the PT,
In an interview with Jovem Pan, Edinho said that he has generally been using career flights for travel, funded by supporters. “I have used career plane and paid passage with support from affiliates,” he said.
According to him, it is legitimate and necessary for candidates to travel across the country. “We are in a pre-campaign period. You have to talk to the PT affiliates, with militancy. There is nothing to justify yourself to try to make it a public debate,” he said.
To the panel, he said that when formalizing his candidacy for PT president, “he will follow all the rules imposed by the board and that, as a militant, if he has support, he will travel the whole country debating the party’s challenges.”
Edinho is a candidate for the trend building a new Brazil and is the favorite for the internal election, with direct vote of the affiliates, scheduled for July.
Last week, during the internal campaign. But there is no rule on other electoral spending.
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