Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's ex-president, says successor Temer took bribes
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Version 0 of 1. Brazil has been plunged into a fresh bout of political uncertainty after lawyers for former president Dilma Rousseff presented evidence suggesting her successor, Michel Temer, accepted bribes from a construction company. If accepted the documents filed with the supreme electoral court raise the possibility of the 2014 presidential election being declared invalid due to campaign funding violations, which could force Temer from office. The two politicians were running mates in 2014 but have since become bitter enemies. Rousseff, of the Workers party, was impeached and removed from the presidency in September on charges of window-dressing government accounts. She has levelled accusations of treachery at her replacement, Temer, of the centre-right Brazilian Democratic Movement party. On Thursday her lawyers submitted bank statements and a copy of a cheque from 10 July 2014 that showed construction company Andrade Gutierrez deposited 1m reais (£234,000) into the PMDB general campaign fund, which was then transferred the same day into the personal campaign fund of Temer. They said this proved that Temer should be ejected from office for receiving illegal funds and that Rousseff – who had earlier been accused by construction company executive Octávio Azevedo of accepting the same amount on the same day – was the victim of perjury. The PMDB insists the donation was given legally and does not constitute a bribe. The supreme electoral court has yet to rule on the case but has already spent several months investigating allegations of financing irregularities by the 2014 Rousseff-Temer campaign. The Temer camp have argued that Rousseff – as the head of the ticket – should take responsibility for any rule breaking. But it has yet to be decided whether they should be judged separately or together. Both politicians are unpopular, having jointly presided over the worst economic recession in decades and a massive corruption scandal centred on the state oil company Petrobras. Police and prosecutors in the Lava Jato (Car Wash) probe have implicated more than 50 senior politicians from almost all of the main parties, as well as corporate executives. Among those accused are Eduardo Cunha – the former house speaker, who led the impeachment campaign but now languishes in prison – and three of the ministers in Temer’s first interim cabinet, all of whom have had to resign. The president has also been named in several plea bargains, though he has rejected claims that he was involved in wrongdoing. The Workers party has also seen several of its leading figures jailed – including a former treasurer and government chief of staff – and its founder, the former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, called to face trial as the alleged head of the corruption scheme. He denies the charges. Amid fears of fresh turmoil Brazil’s currency fell on Thursday by more than 5% to its lowest level since June. |