The interim President of Brazil Michel Temer is denying allegations of soliciting bribes and kickbacks, as spelled out in the plea bargain of a former executive of the corruption-soaked state run oil company Petrobras.

The former head of Petrobras Transporte SA Sergio Machado told prosecutors that at Mr. Temer's request, he got a major construction company to come up with a AU$585,000 payoff.  In exchange, Temer (who was Vice President at the time) would give the company a leg up on winning lucrative contracts.  Temer used the cash to bolster the reelection campaign of a political ally who wound up losing anyway.

"This deepens his government's crisis," said Pedro Fassoni Arruda, a political science professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo.  "But a plea bargain doesn't prove anything, it's just the start of the investigation."

Michel Temer's right-wing, all-white male government has ruled for barely a month following the impeachment of Brazil's democratically elected President Dilma Rousseff.  Two of his cabinet members resigned from their posts last month in response to allegations that they sought to subvert the probe into massive graft at Petrobras.

The Brazilian Senate voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff her on charges that she used accounting tricks to hide a budget deficit when she ran for re-election in 2014.  Dilma insists there is nothing wrong with what she did, and she is not accused of profiting.