Tag: Jose Eduardo Cardozo

Brazil SC Justice Opens Probe Against Suspended President

This is the first time that the court has authorised an investigation into Rousseff, who is expected to stand impeachment trial in the senate on August 25.

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff (L) and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attend the appointment of Lula da Silva as chief of staff, at Planalto palace in Brasilia, Brazil,

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff (L) and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attend the appointment of Lula da Silva as chief of staff, at Planalto palace in Brasilia, Brazil, March 17, 2016. Credit: Reuters/Adriano Machado

Sao Paulo: A Brazilian Federal Supreme Court justice has authorised the opening of an investigation into President Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for allegedly working to obstruct the course of a sweeping corruption probe, GloboNews news channel said on Tuesday.

According to GloboNews, Justice Teori Zavascki’s ruling has given prosecutor general Rodrigo Janot permission to look for additional evidence that Rousseff sought to name Lula to a cabinet post to help him avoid prosecution. In June, Zavascki barred the use of some wiretaps that showed Rousseff and Lula negotiating the cabinet appointment.

The news channel, without saying how it obtained the information, also said Zavascki authorised the opening of separate investigations against Aloizio Mercadante and Jose Eduardo Cardozo, two former Rousseff ministers, for similar allegations.

Press representatives at the STF (Supremo Tribunal Federal) and the prosecutor-general’s office in Brasilia could not immediately be reached for comment.

In a statement, Rousseff’s press staff denied any attempt to obstruct justice, adding that the investigation will allow “the truth to prevail.” Spokespeople for Cardozo and Mercadante did not immediately comment. In a widely sent email, Lula’s lawyers said the former president “did not practise any act that could configure obstruction of justice.”

The decision is likely to escalate pressure on the two leading political figures, whose Workers Party is ensnared in an ongoing bribes-for-state contracts scandal known in Brazil as ‘operation car wash.’

This is the first time that a Supreme Court justice has authorised an investigation into Rousseff, who is expected to stand impeachment trial in the senate on August 25 for allegedly doctoring budget accounts. Only the STF can authorise investigations against Rousseff and cabinet ministers because they enjoy immunity from prosecution.

Late last month, a federal judge pressed charges against Lula for allegedly working to obstruct the work of investigators in the car wash probe.

According to the judge’s July 30 decision, Lula and another five people allegedly conspired in an attempt to buy the silence of a former executive at state-controlled oil producer Petróleo Brasileiro SA who was involved in the scandal.

(Reuters)

Brazil Attorney General Urges Congress to End Impeachment Case

Brazil’s attorney general urged a congressional committee to dismiss impeachment charges against President Dilma Rousseff, saying there is no legal basis for the proceedings.

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff attends a signing ceremony of land expropriation for agrarian reform and granting slave descendants, or Quilombolas, titles to their ancestral lands at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, April 1, 2016. Credit: Reuters/Adriano Machado

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff. Credit: Reuters/Adriano Machado

Brasilia: Brazil‘s attorney general urged a congressional committee on Monday, April 4, to dismiss impeachment charges against President Dilma Rousseff, saying there is no legal basis for the proceedings.

Jose Eduardo Cardozo, the government’s main legal advisor, told members of Congress that the decision by lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha to accept the impeachment request was motivated by Cunha’s desire for political revenge against Rousseff, his bitter political rival.

“The impeachment process was compromised from the start and as such it is invalid,” Cardozo said, telling lawmakers that to conclude the impeachment would be to “rip up the constitution.”

The hearing came just weeks ahead of a vote that could suspend Rousseff from office in the middle of an economic crisis and a bribery scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras that has shaken Brazil‘s political establishment. Markets favour Rousseff’s ouster on hopes it could usher in business-friendly policies under her substitute, Vice President Michel Temer.

The opposition’s impeachment request, which is not formally tied to the graft probe threatening her inner circle, alleges that Rousseff deliberately manipulated budgetary accounts to boost her re-election campaign in 2014.

Cardozo, Rousseff’s former justice minister, denied allegations that lending from state banks to the federal government was used to fund social programs. The testimony by the attorney general, appointed in March, is the latest step in a process that started with Cunha’s acceptance of impeachment charges in December.

The committee will recommend to the lower house whether there are grounds to impeach Rousseff. The full house would then vote on the committee’s decision, which could happen as soon as mid-April.

If the impeachment passes the lower house, Rousseff would be suspended for up to six months while facing trial in the Senate, making Temer acting president. Temer and Cunha’s PMDB party, the largest in Congress, formally broke with the government last week.

Rousseff’s opponents need the votes of two-thirds of 513 deputies to take the impeachment case to the Senate. Rousseff has to get 171 votes or abstentions to block the process. Political consultancies, such as the Eurasia Group, see a 60-70% chance she will lose the vote.

In an effort to rally her leftist base and consolidate support to defeat impeachment, Rousseff last month appointed her predecessor and political mentor, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as cabinet chief.

The move set off a wave of legal challenges from critics accusing her of shielding Lula from the snowballing corruption investigation that started at state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, known as Petrobras.

Prosecutors have charged Lula with concealing a luxury beachfront apartment provided by Petrobras contractors snared in the multi-billion-dollar graft probe.

If Lula takes office as Rousseff’s minister, proceedings against him will remain under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

A dozen other impeachment requests are also waiting for consideration by Cunha, a fierce critic of Rousseff, who is also facing corruption charges for allegedly receiving millions in the Petrobras scheme through undeclared Swiss bank accounts.

Cunha can accept a second bid to impeach the president in tandem with the current process but he is expected to do so only if the first case against Rousseff is defeated.

(Reuters)