The stock exchange in São Paulo, Brazil, had lost at least three percentage points in early trade on Wednesday as a political corruption scandal involving the ruling Worker’s party (PT) flared up again.

The PT has been accused of bribing some legislators as a way of securing their votes.

Earlier in the week, it looked as if the scandal was dying down after Roberto Jefferson, head of the PTB party, which is a member of the ruling coalition, could only provide circumstantial evidence that the PT had bribed legislators when he testified before a congressional panel on the issue.

However, an interview was published on Wednesday in which the former secretary of a PT aide said she had witnessed repeated deliveries of cash to government officials.

Some analysts now say that the accusations being made in the controversy have as much to do with the upcoming general election, set for October, as it does with trying to root out corruption in the government.

Especially if this is true, the scandal and the crisis that it has caused will not be over any time soon.