Brazil's Senate speaker
acquitted in impeachment
process
The Brazilian Senate
acquitted Speaker Sen.
Renan Calheiros in the
impeachment process on
Wednesday.
Forty senators voted for
the acquittal, while 35
voted for the
impeachment and six
senators abstained from
voting.
Calheiros faced charges
of favoring a building
company in public
bidding processes for
government projects. The
scandal was unveiled in
May, when he was related
to a lobbyist hired by
developer Mendes Junior,
who allegedly paid the
alimony destined to
Calheiros'
three-year-old daughter.
The charges generated
investigations in the
Senate's Disciplinary
Council, which ended up
indicating the Speaker's
impeachment. However,
the plenary assembly
decided for his
acquittal on Wednesday.
Calheiros, a member of
the Brazilian Democratic
Movement Party (PMDB),
which supports President
Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva's government, will
now have to face
oppositionists that
amount to practically
half of the number of
Brazilian senators (81).
Sen. Demostenes Torres,
of the opposition's
Democrats' Party (DEM),
analyzed the result as
"weakening" to the
Senate as a whole.
"It is not only Renan
Calheiros' Calvary
anymore. It is the
Senate's too," stressed
Torres.
PMDB Sen. Almeida Lima,
on the other hand,
pointed out that the
media is waging a
campaign against
Calheiros.
Due to an eventual
influence that the local
press could have on the
voting, the session was
exceptionally secret, as
only the senators were
admitted in the plenary
assembly, and the votes
were also kept secret.
A group of federal
deputies got a court
injunction to attend the
session as spectators.
The Senate's security
guards tried to prevent
them from getting into
the plenary. Two
deputies fist fought the
guards, and another one
was injured in the
incident. Later, the
congressmen were
admitted in the session.
Calheiros will still be
investigated at the
Disciplinary Council in
two other cases. He was
charged with favoring
local beverages company
Schincariol in the
voting of a matter. He
is also being
investigated for using
other people's names in
the certificates of
ownership of a TV/radio
broadcasting group in
the state of Alagoas, in
the northeast of Brazil.
In the point of view of
Sen. Alvaro Dias, of
opposition's Brazilian
Social Democracy Party (PSDB),
the Speaker's acquittal
diminished the
importance of the two
other investigations
against him. |
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