By Maira Magro
The Federal Police are working to indict journalist Amaury Ribeiro Júnior for his alleged role in violating the financial privacy of individuals linked to opposition presidential candidate José Serra, O Estado de S. Paulo and O Globo report.
In statements to the police, Ribeiro confirmed that he paid a mediator to obtain documents from the Trade Board in São Paulo, but he denied claims that he was attempting to buy confidential information, Correio Braziliense explains.
According to the police, investigations show that the journalist paid for private financial documents on Serra’s relatives and political allies in September and October of 2009, which was then given to the campaign of governing-party candidate Dilma Rousseff, IG adds.
According to Época, Ribeiro said the information was obtained with the goal of “protecting” Serra’s primary rival against alleged espionage. The journalist told the police that he “never gave the information to anyone” and that the material was stolen from his computer by members of Rousseff’s campaign, O Globo explains.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
