Debate on leader’s graft trial kicks off
BRAZIL’S lower house of Congress got off to a raucous start yesterday in a debate on whether to send scandal-plagued President Michel Temer to face trial on a corruption charge.
Opposition legislators brandished placards mocking Temer’s rock-bottom approval ratings and wheeled in a suitcase similar to one used by a Temer aide when he was caught carrying the equivalent of R1.99-million in cash in alleged bribe money. “Out with Temer,” they shouted.
A deeply unpopular veteran of the ruling PMDB party, Temer is accused of taking bribes from a meat-packing industry executive – part of a wider scandal sucking in major politicians.
If two-thirds of deputies in the lower house of Congress accept the charge, Temer will be suspended for 180 days and face trial at the Supreme Court.
The upheaval comes only 12 months after the same politicians ejected Temer’s leftist predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, in an impeachment trial.
Analysts say Temer has enough support to stop a two-thirds majority, in which case the charge would be thrown out.The first question, however, is whether the vote will take place.
Many in the opposition have vowed not to show up, preventing the chamber from reaching the necessary quorum. Their hope is to postpone the vote and increase pressure on Temer, who has been lobbying energetically for it to go ahead so he can put the issue behind him.
“Every day, new information comes in on other corruption cases involving the government,” Paul Pimento, of Rousseff’s leftist Workers’ Party, said.
“The more of this that comes to the attention of voters and Congress, the greater the chances of us getting the votes to remove Temer.”
Temer is the highest-profile target in the Operation Car Wash anti-graft probe, which has uncovered rampant bribery and embezzlement in politics and business. But he has proved a canny operator in Brazil’s toxic political landscape.