In a 450-10 vote late Monday, the Chamber of Deputies stripped the congressional seat from Eduardo Cunha, who has been accused of numerous corruption allegations and obstructing justice.
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Mr Temer was vice-president, but took over as president at the end of August after Ms Rousseff was impeached and removed from office on charges of illegally manipulating the government’s accounts.
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Cunha was known for being one of the main articulators in former President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment process.
At that time, Rousseff said that Cunha was seeking revenge for the government’s refusal to protect him in the ethics investigation that has now led to his downfall.
Coming from the same PMDB party as the new president Michel Temer, Mr Cunha would make for a unsafe whistle-blower for the new regime, which has been rejected by many for its support of Ms Rousseff’s impeachment.
“The current administration adopted the agenda of removing me from office”, he said, adding that he planned to publish a book telling about the behind-the-scenes dealings that led to the impeachment of Rousseff. That means the several corruption cases he faces will now go to a lower court judge who is famous for locking up prominent figures.
Months before, Cunha had said in a congressional inquiry that he did not have any money overseas.
Swiss prosecutors say Cunha held accounts at Julius Baer bank, with media reports putting their value in December at the equivalent of $2.5 million. Some believe he has similar accounts in the US. He denies wrongdoing, including accusations by prosecutors he stashed kickbacks in the accounts.
Against a backdrop of Brazil’s worst recession in decades, the Petrobras scandal has ensnared some of the country’s most powerful lawmakers and business executives.
Brazil’s former President of the Chamber of Deputies Eduardo Cunha speaks during the presentation of his defense in the Chamber of Deputies, in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, Sept. 12, 2016.
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.
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He has politically set aside for eight years, which is good news for Brazil, considered the journalist and writer Alex Solnik, according to whom Cunha received last night “the biggest defeat of his life” after winning all the “games” played while being the head of the House of Representatives.
