Two senior officials in the Lula Administration were linked to the telecommunications industry until recently. Luiz Fernando Furlan, minister of development, industry and trade, was on the board of Telefonica and Cássio Casseb, just appointed president of Banco do Brasil (BB), was on the board of Telecom Italia in Brazil. It?s worth noting that BB is highly influential in the telecoms industry through the investments made by Previ, its pension fund. Previ invests massively in telecoms and is engaged in several legal battles with other major shareholders in important telcos.
Political scene
