Mensalão scandal

The Mensalão scandal (, ) was a major parliamentary scandal by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration. It threatened to bring down his government in 2005.
The scandal broke on June 6, 2005 when Brazilian deputy Roberto Jefferson (Brazilian Labour Party) told the "Folha de S.Paulo" newspaper that the Workers' Party (PT) had paid a many deputies 30,000 reais (around US$12,000 at the time) a month to vote for legislation supported by the party. 
The investigation then found members of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, Democrats, Brazilian Democratic Movement Party and seven other political parties were also involved. The scandal, however, did not hurt Lula da Silva's popularity as much as he was re-elected in 2006 in a landslide victory.