Paulo Maluf
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Paulo Salim Maluf (pron. IPA: [ˈpawlu saˈlĩ maˈlufi]) (b. 3 September 1931, São Paulo) is a Lebanese Brazilian politician with a career spanning over four decades and many functions, including state governorship (São Paulo), presidential candidacy and mayor of the city of São Paulo. He has been plagued throughout his political career with substantial allegations of corruption, but nevertheless, has only been convicted once, in 2001. Due to the nature of the Brazilian judicial system, only final convictions (without possibilities of appeal) are considered. He is currently a leader of Progressive Party of Brazil (PP), heir of the old National Renewal Alliance Party (ARENA).
[edit] Biography
Paulo Salim Maluf, the son of Lebanese Christian immigrants Salim Farah Maluf and Maria Stephan Maluf, graduated 1954 in engineering at the University of São Paulo (USP), where coincidentally he was a colleague of the late Mário Covas, another important Brazilian politician who would later become one of his biggest political rivals.
Thanks to his friendship with the then military president Artur da Costa e Silva, he was appointed mayor of São Paulo in 1968, replacing the very popular Faria Lima. In a manner very similar to New York’s Robert Moses, he suspended the construction of the São Paulo Metro and built one of the most controversial constructions of Brazil: Costa e Silva elevated expressway, also know as Minhocão (“Big Earthworm” in Portuguese). This expressway is seen as responsible for the degradation of a great area of São Paulo´s downtown by placing a high-traffic elevated road in the middle of the city.
In 1972, following his mayorship, he served as secretary of transport of the state of São Paulo. He would then succeed in being appointed state governor for the state of São Paulo in 1978, during which one of the most notable accusations of corruption against him emerged, concerning the oil company Paulipetro. This was a state company founded by Maluf during his tenure as governor with the purpose of digging the state for oil and which consumed around US$500 million whilst digging up 21 holes and finding nothing but a few pockets of natural gas and water.
He was then successfully elected a federal deputy with a record 672 629 votes in 1982 and was the military's preferred presidential candidate for the 1985 presidential elections, where he stood a good chance of winning until his PDS party (as the current PP was known at the time) splintered into the PFL, resulting in the election of Tancredo Neves. He has since then only successfully managed to get himself elected once, in 1992, again as mayor of São Paulo, despite his participation in every single state and mayoral election for São Paulo state and São Paulo city, with the exception of 1989 when he was a presidential candidate, although the election of Celso Pitta can be directly attributed to his endorsement.
One notable example of the allegations of corruption surrounding his name is the Ayrton Senna tunnel, which passes underneath the Ibirapuera park and has a cost per kilometer bigger than that of the Channel Tunnel (it is alleged that the tunnel cost over US$400 million more than it should). Under dispute is Maluf's personal wealth, which critics attribute to his corruption scandals and proponents attribute to his family companies (which are, admittedly, quite large). He was also recently part of an extensive investigation regarding money laundering involving bank accounts of himself and family in Jersey (one of the Channel Islands). He has been convicted of corruption multiple times, but only in 2001 was the sentence final, with no possibility of appeal. At the time he was forced to pay approximately R$500.000 to the state. Many of his alleged crimes cannot be prosecuted, due to the nature of the Brazilian statute of limitations. Even if he were to be convicted, there would be serious questions about whether he would serve jail time, as he is over 70 years of age.
In early September 2005, Paulo Maluf and his son Flávio Maluf were temporarily arrested by the Brazilian Federal police, under the charge of intimidating witnesses of an ongoing investigation. They were only incarcerated for a few weeks.
So notorious is Maluf's reputation that in Brazil the verb malufar was created, meaning "to steal public money". This verb is also sometimes used outside Brazil, with one example being the French newspaper "Le Monde". [1]
In the 2006 elections, Maluf ran for a seat in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies. He was not only elected, but also the federal deputy candidate to have won the most votes in the country.
On March 9, 2007, Robert M Morgenthau of the Manhattan's District Attorney's office issued an [2]indictment against Paulo Maluf for Money Laundering in relation to a kickback & inflated invoice scheme that allegedly stole $11.6m from a Brazillian road contract project totalling $140 million.
| Preceded by José Vicente Faria Lima |
Mayor of São Paulo 1969 – 1971 |
Succeeded by José Carlos de Figueiredo Ferraz |
| Preceded by Paulo Egydio Martins |
Appointed Governor of São Paulo 1979 – 1982 |
Succeeded by José Maria Marin |
| Preceded by Luiza Erundina |
Mayor of São Paulo 1993 – 1996 |
Succeeded by Celso Pitta |
