Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva apologised in a nationwide address for a bribery and finance scandal today.
"The government and the Workers' Party have to ask for forgiveness from the Brazilian people," he said in a short, solemn speech at the presidential ranch in which he denied knowledge of any wrongdoing.
The scandal centers on accusations that the Workers' Party bribed lawmakers to back legislation and used undeclared financing for 2002 election campaigns.
In his speech, the former factory worker and union leader said he felt "betrayed by unacceptable actions" and called for the reform of political financing rules that he has blamed for luring off-the-books money into the system.
"I'm conscious of the gravity of the political crisis. It hurts the entire party system," he said.
"It is the duty of the government to stop the crisis from contaminating the economy."
Although several top officials have resigned because of the scandal, Mr Lula, who won the presidency of the world's fourth-largest democracy in 2002, had so far not been directly implicated.
But in a new development in the 10-week-old scandal, a former lawmaker said Mr Lula knew of undeclared campaign funding by his ruling Workers' Party.
"Lula was in the next room. He knew we were negotiating numbers," former Liberal Party head Valdemar Costa Neto told Epoca magazine in an interview.