The former Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies in Brazil, Eduardo Cunha, has been ousted from the Brazilian Congress as his impeachment process was approved by a crushing 450 votes in favor, ten against and nine abstaining.
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With the loss of his congressional seat, Cunha also loses his partial immunity from prosecution.
Brazil’s House of Representatives expelled its former head Eduardo Cunha late Monday for allegedly telling lies and taking bribes, but Cunha refuted that the move was nothing more than a political vendetta.
Cunha, who is often compared to the dark, manipulative hero Frank Underwood of the hit Netflix series “House of Cards”, used his position as speaker of the lower house to put Rousseff on an unstoppable path to impeachment.
In all, about 60 percent of the 513 lawmakers in Brazil’s lower house are under investigation for various allegations, according to watchdog group Transparency Brazil.
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 past year that he did not have any bank accounts overseas. He had refused to give up his post as a lawmaker, however, and denies any wrongdoing.
While Cunha’s ouster means he is barred from holding office for several years, his next moves could have wide political implications for the country and the government of new President Michel Temer.
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.
He entered politics in the 1990s as a fundraiser for President Fernando Collor de Mello, the first Brazilian leader elected after military rule ended in 1985.
The center-right president was sworn in on August 31 to serve out the rest of predecessor Dilma Rousseff’s term, after she was removed from office on charges of illegally manipulating the government’s accounts.
The vote was seen as critical for the credibility of Congress and all eyes will now be on what Mr Cunha does next, the BBC’s Wyre Davies in Brazil says. They allege that he received an illegal payment of $5 million.
The case has ensnared some of Brazil’s most powerful lawmakers and business executives.
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Prosecutors have alleged that Cunha is one of those tied to the Petrobras scandal, in which more than $2 billion in bribes was purportedly paid to obtain inflated contracts from the energy company.
