Palocci Denies Allegations

Brazil’s Finance Minister Antonio Palocci denied an allegation he took bribes when he was a mayor in the 1990s and said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will keep him in his post. Palocci said the allegations won’t slow growth and that Lula has no plans to change the country’s economic policy. Rogerio Buratti, an aide to Palocci when he was mayor of Ribeirao Preto in the 1990s, testified to state prosecutors that Palocci received about $20,000 a month from a company in charge of the city’s trash collection.