Brazilian says Venezuela's Maduro made illegal payments in 2012 Chavez campaign

A Brazilian strategist was paid $20 million under-the-table for the 2012 re-election campaign of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, much of it handed over in cash by the man who now leads Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro, according to a plea bargain statement made public on Thursday.

Strategist Joao Santana, nicknamed the “maker of presidents” for helping Brazil’s leftist leaders hold power for 13 years, was arrested last year with his wife Monica Moura and they now are serving 8-year prison sentences for million-dollar payments from bribe money in the sprawling Car Wash graft investigation.

In a deposition to Brazilian prosecutors in March, Moura detailed similar illegal, under-the-table payments totaling $53.9 million, mostly paid by Brazilian engineering companies, for their work abroad advising election campaigns in Panama, El Salvador, Angola and Venezuela …. http://www.reuters.com