Brazil leader handed boost in graft case

SAO PAULO— A congressional committee rejected a recommendation to try Brazil’s president for corruption, handing him a symbolic victory Thursday a day after a former president was convicted of graft.

The corruption cases against two major Brazilian figures underscored the extent of political turmoil in Latin America’s largest country, where a spreading corruption investigation has uncovered a scheme to exchange bribes and kickbacks for political favours and public contracts.

That probe has led to an accusation that President Michel Temer accepted bribes from a meat packing executive in exchange for helping the company obtain favourable government decisions. Temer has denied wrongdoing.

Earlier this week, a lawmaker appointed to study Temer’s case recommended that the charge be accepted, a setback for Temer. But on Thursday, a Chamber of Deputies committee rejected that recommendation, swinging the pendulum back in the leader’s favour.

Both moves are largely symbolic. The decision to suspend Temer and put him on trial rests with the full lower house: If two-thirds of the 513 deputies should vote against Temer, lower house Speaker Rodrigo Maia would take over presidential duties while Brazil’s Supreme Court tried the president.

After the contentious committee vote, which occasionally descended into shouting matches, some lawmakers cried “Temer out!” and “Purchased vote!” Others responded with “Long live Temer!”

Some lawmakers complained that the extensive substitution of committee members in recent days made the committee vote a farce. Party leaders have the right to replace their members on committees as they see fit, and Brazilian media reported that parties allied with Temer made several such substitutions — in an apparent bid to guarantee the vote went the president’s way.