Brazil: Ex-President of the Lower House Sentenced To 15 Years

The former president of the Lower House of Brazil, Eduardo Cunha, who promoted the impeachment against former President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, was sentenced to 15 years and 11 months in prison for passive corruption and money laundering in relation to the Car Wash operation.

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According to a complaint filed by the Prosecutor's Office in the Curitiba federal court, Cunha demanded bribes for USD5 million in contracts for the construction of drillships by Petrobras, which implied diverting some US$10 million from public coffers.

After analyzing the complaint, Judge Luiz Antonio Bonat declared Cunha guilty of having received bribes and mentioned that there is evidence that he also requested bribes in favor of other people.

"Having received an undue advantage proves that Eduardo Cunha used his influential status as a federal lawmaker to carry out the crime of corruption," the judge stated.

"The responsibility of a federal lawmaker is express and, consequently, so is his guilt when he commits crimes," Bonat added.

Besides ruling the seizure of four luxury cars due to suspicions that they were acquired with illicit resources, the Curitiba judge stated that if it were not for the influential position that the former lawmaker had, the bribes would never have been paid.

In 2016, then-President Dilma Rousseff, who belongs to the Workers' Party (PT), was removed from office through a political trial mounted against her.

Given that there was no evidence of corruption against her, the Brazilian far-right accused her of "crimes of responsibility", an alleged legal figure by which she was accused of having violated fiscal regulations in preparing the public budget.