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(CNN Spanish) - United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, denied since
Geneva, Switzerland, the accusations of the former president of the Brazilian construction company OAS, Léo Pinheiro, who, according to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, said his company financed the political campaign of the former president of Chile in 2013 in exchange for concessions to build a Bridge to the south of Chile.
According to the newspaper, the businessman Pinheiro - who has already been convicted of the crimes of money laundering, bribery and illicit association - made these statements to the Brazilian Public Ministry in the context of a compensated complaint.
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Consulted by CNN, from the Attorney General's Office of the Brazilian Republic they did not confirm or deny
the content of what was published by Folha de Sao Paulo, since "it is information under summary secret".
According to Folha, the businessman said that former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva acted as an intermediary between OAS and Bachelet campaign managers, asking Pinheiro about $ 140,000. He said, always according to that newspaper, that he accepted for fear of losing the contracts before an eventual change of government in Chile; However, Lula's defense denies these facts, Folha de São Paulo reported.
Given this, Bachelet - who was president of Chile in the periods 2006-2010 and 2014-2018 - denied the accusations and said in an interview with the Chilean TVN channel that “my truth is the same as always, I have never had ties with OAS and the truth is that it seems so strange to me that he (Pinheiro), after having had the opportunity to speak with prosecutor Chong (prosecutor in charge of investigating cases related to OAS in Chile), if there was any background to have it delivered, now this information appears on issues that are quite speculative, such as the Chacao Bridge, which was awarded in the government of President Piñera. ”
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Bachelet added that he will cooperate with everything that is necessary, but stressed that “we are at a level of speculation and I am not going to do other speculations. I do not have or never had any link with OAS and I will not speculate. My answer is: I discard it sharply. ”
For their part, from the Chilean Prosecutor's Office they said they were waiting for the Brazilian Public Ministry to send them the statements of Pinheiro in an official manner to proceed with the investigation.
Case OASMichelle Bachelet