Brazil’s top court removes indicted Senate president
BRASILIA: Brazil’s Supreme Court has removed Senator Renan Calheiros as president of the Senate after the top court indicted him last week on charges of embezzlement, a court spokesman said, a move that could put the government’s belt-tightening agenda in peril.
His replacement on Tuesday by Senator Jorge Vianna of the leftist Workers Party, who opposes spending cuts, could block steps to control a widening budget deficit and recoup confidence in Latin America’s largest economy mired in a deep recession.
Justice Marco Aurelio de Mello removed Calheiros based on a majority ruling by the high court last month that any person indicted for a crime could not be in the presidential line of succession. The head of the Senate is the second in line after the speaker of the lower house, as Brazil does not have a vice president at the moment.
The judge’s ruling must be put to the full court, which is expected to uphold the injunction on Wednesday since six of its 11 justices favoured the new presidential succession rule.
The removal of Calheiros was a new blow for President Michel Temer whose six-month-old government has been weakened by corruption scandals as it strives to push through unpopular austerity measures, including a cap on federal spending that is scheduled to be put to a final vote in the Senate on Dec 13. “The injunction is terrible news for Temer because it puts the spending ceiling at risk given that the deputy leader of the Senate is from the Workers Party,” said Leonardo Barreto, head of Brasilia-based political consultancy Factual. “This can delay the final vote and send the wrong signal to markets,” he said.
Calheiros declined to comment on the decision but his office said he would step down when he is officially notified, at which point Vianna, the vice president of the upper chamber, becomes leader until Senate elections in February.
The Workers Party quickly said the fiscal measures should be delayed until the new session next year.
“How can we vote for this explosive agenda in the climate of instability in which no one knows who is in command of the Senate,” Workers Party Senator Paulo Paim said. Calheiros was indicted Dec 1 on charges of misusing public funds in a nine-year-old case involving child support for a daughter he had in an extramarital affair, including billing the Senate for car rentals with false contracts.
The government’s leader in Congress, Senator Romero Juca, said the removal of Calheiros would not alter plans for the Dec 13 vote on the 20-year spending cap, the key measure in Temer’s plan to rein in a widening budget deficit.
But the uncertainty is expected to rattle investors who are looking for signs that Brazil is putting its books in order before they decide to invest in the country again.
LEONARDO BARRETO Head of Political Consultancy Factual