News / Brazil

Brazil’s senate leader indicted for alleged embezzlement

Friday, 02 December 2016 6:16 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 02 December 2016 11:27 AM ]

Brazil’s Senate President Renan Calheiros (L) and federal judge Sergio Moro attend a session at the Federal Senate in Brasilia, December 1, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

Brazil’s top court has voted to put Senate President Renan Calheiros, a key ally of President Michel Temer, on trial for alleged embezzlement.

The Brazilian Supreme Court voted 8-3 on Thursday to try Calheiros for allegedly misusing public funds in a nine-year-old case.

According to prosecutors, Calheiros falsified his Senate expense accounts, using funds to cover up child support payments for a daughter he had in an extramarital affair.

The Senate’s president faces 11 counts of corruption in total, eight of which have been described as kickbacks in a massive scandal involving state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro S.A., also known as Petrobras.

Calheiros denies the accusations, according to his office, which argues that prosecutors had failed for nine years to provide evidence against him.

The senator survived previous accusations of corruption, including charges that he traveled on an Air Force jet to get hair implant treatment. He stepped down as Senate leader in 2007 to save his seat in the legislative body, before he was again elected president of the Senate in February 2013.

Calheiros’ term, however, ends in February 2017, long before the court reaches a conclusion in the embezzlement case.

The senator, along with some other politicians, is also under fire for trying to obstruct a probe into allegation of corruption at Petrobras, dubbed Operation Car Wash by investigators, which is focused on graft involving engineering firms and the state-controlled oil company between 2003 and 2014.

Only this week, he tried to fast-track legislation that would have weakened the powers of prosecutors and judges to pursue suspects in the case.

Such efforts by lawmakers to shield themselves have led to anger among Brazilians, who are scheduled to hold protests in 100 cities across the country on Sunday, according to organizers.

They also criticize Temer’s administration for not pushing back hard enough against the lawmakers who are trying to end the Car Wash probe, which has so far sent scores of top political and business figures to prison.

Temer’s six-month-old administration has been engulfed by political turmoil from the beginning. He has lost an average of one minister a month since taking power.

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