Brazil’s Un-Elected President Embroiled In Largest Corruption Probe In Brazilian History
April 12, 2017
Several top allies of the unelected president, including nearly one third of his cabinet, are in the spotlight for fraud.
Brazil’s acting President Michel Temer arrives to speak, at Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, May 12, 2016.
A Brazilian Supreme Court judge opened investigations Tuesday into almost 100 politicians who allegedly were part of the largest corruption scheme in the country, including a number of top allies of unelected President Michel Temer.
Eight ministers — which represents nearly one third of the president’s cabinet — 29 senators of the 81 in the Senate, 40 lawmakers out of the 513 from the lower house, twelve governors and five former presidents have been accused of being part of the scheme around bribery in the state-run oil company Petrobras.
The list of names was released on Tuesday as part of the investigation by Justice Edson Fachin, based on the testimony of top executives in Brazil’s largest construction conglomerate, Odebrecht, which has been at the center of corruption scandals and found guilty of running an international bribery network.
“The political crisis will deepen and we risk an institutional paralysis because the entire Brazilian political system is under question,” said senator Jorge Viana, who is also under investigation.
