Brazil’s attorney general challenges impeachment

RIO DE JANEIRO— Brazil’s attorney general on Monday blasted impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff as illegal, calling them no more than an attempted coup motivated by a thirst for vengeance by foes of the unpopular leader.

In an impassioned defence before the lower house of Congress’ impeachment committee, Jose Eduardo Cardozo said Brazilian law allows impeachment only under very limited circumstances — when a chief of state commits a serious crime. That, he said, is not the case for Rousseff, who is facing impeachment proceedings for violating fiscal laws to mask a budget gap. The impeachment drama comes as Brazil is struggling with its worst recession in decades, a sprawling corruption investigation centred around the state-run Petrobras oil company, an outbreak of the Zika virus and preparations to host the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August. Cardozo alleged the proceedings against Rousseff were akin to “tearing up the constitution.” The whole process is “absolutely unfounded,” he said.

He suggested the push to oust Rousseff, who was narrowly re-elected to a second term in late 2014, was retaliation by the president’s foes, particularly lower house Speaker Eduardo Cunha. The main force be- hind impeachment, Cunha is facing money-laundering charges in connection with the Petrobras probe and could be removed from his seat over allegations he lied to a congressional committee.

“His excellency, Speaker Eduardo Cunha, used his power to launch his vengeance and retaliation” against Rousseff because she refused to pledge the support of her left-leaning Workers’ Party in the proceedings against him, Cardozo said.