Last year, Swiss authorities uncovered a number of accounts in Cunha’ s name and informed the Brazilian authorities.
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Ivan Valente, deputy of the PSOL Party (Socialism and Liberty Party) from Sao Paulo, made an impassioned call for his removal, saying that Cunha was corrupt and that he had to go for justice to prevail, before chanting “Cunha Out”.
The state company that manages airports, Infraero, will not be involved in the new airport concessions, and investors who build railways will also be allowed to operate them, unlike previous concessions that failed to get off the ground.
In his first statements this morning after losing his mandate, Cunha announced that he will write a book about what was behind the impeachment process of Dilma, which will detail the secret talks he held with numerous politicians, which he had not recorded because he has a good memory.
Watchdog groups estimate that 60 percent of lawmakers in both chambers of Congress are being investigated for crimes, majority related to corruption including the Petrobras case. “Whistleblowers are criminals, I’m not a criminal, I have nothing to divulge”, he said, adding that he plans to write a memoir of his time in public office.
Cunha no longer enjoys the partial immunity from prosecution that comes with elected office; only the country’s highest court can decide to try federal lawmakers.
Temer, Rousseff’s vice president before taking over, and Cunha were once close allies.
The most powerful president of the lower chamber in decades, a man who thought of himself as a possible presidential candidate in 2018, Mr Cunha’s problems stem from his claim made before a parliamentary commission previous year that he did not have any bank accounts overseas.
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Cunha was forced to resign from the speakership on July 7 after the Supreme Court suspended him due to allegations he had obstructed investigations in a bribery case and intimidated members of Congress; he had previously been indicted in the mega-scandal involving state-owned oil company Petrobras. He is charged with receiving up to tens of millions illegally in bribes. News stories displayed here appear in our category for General and are licensed via a specific agreement between LongIsland.com and The Associated Press, the world’s oldest and largest news organization. For the protection of AP and its licensors, content may not be copied, altered or redistributed in any form. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
