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News > Latin America

New Graft Charges Against President Temer Sent to Brazil's Congress

  • New Graft Charges Against President Temer Sent to Brazil's Congress
Published 21 September 2017
Opinion

Last month, Temer's allies in Congress blocked the first corruption charge against the president.

Brazil's Supreme Court has ruled in favor of sending new graft charges against President Michel Temer to the Lower House of Congress.

RELATED:

Brazil's President Michel Temer Faces New Corruption Charges

Ten judges voted for, one against.

The Lower House must authorize any trial of a sitting president.

Last month, Temer's allies in Congress blocked the first corruption charge against the president, saving him from facing a possible Supreme Court trial.

In the new charges, Temer is accused of being the leader, since May 2016, of a criminal racket involving four former members of Congress from the president's own PMDB party, along with two of his current ministers, Eliseu Padilha and Moreira Franco. 

The members of the alleged scheme are accused of receiving bribes exceeding US$160 million.

He has also been charges with obstructing justice, relating to Temer's alleged encouragement of payments to buy the silence of Eduardo Cunha, the jailed former speaker of the Lower House.

Temer has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

He said on Wednesday that he was not concerned about being charged with racketeering and obstruction of justice.

"These accusations must be investigated, but I am not worried about this in the least," he told Reuters.

The charges against Temer will only be considered by the Supreme Court if they are endorsed by the deputies with a qualified majority of two-thirds, represented by 342 votes of a possible 513 involved in the plenary.

An investigation has also been authorized into other separate allegations of corruption against Temer involving a presidential decree relating to Brazil’s ports.

Again, Temer denies any wrongdoing.

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