Brazil’s Congress opens impeachment proceedings against president

The speaker of the lower house of Brazil’s Congress opened impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff yesterday, deepening a political crisis as the economy nosedives.

Paulo Pimenta, a Workers’ Party deputy, told AFP the party was filing complaints targeting Speaker Eduardo Cunha, whose opponents describe his launch of the impeachment as an attempt to escape his own legal and political problems. “The proceeding was initiated today and tomorrow, the House will have a special committee to consider the request for impeachment presented by the lawyers Helio Bicudo, Miguel Reale Jr. and Janaina Paschoal”, said Mendonça Filho, a lawmaker from the Democrats party that supports the ouster of the president.

The Brazilian president faces being ousted from office after the president of the lower house of Congress officially started the process of impeachment. He would remain in power if the Senate impeaches Rousseff or step aside if she is absolved.

Rousseff denied any wrongdoing and said she was indignant at the accusation.

Brazil’s is also experiencing a major corruption scandal at the government-run oil company, Petrobras.

“I’ve committed no illicit act, there is no suspicion hanging over me of any misuse of public money”, the president said in her national broadcast.

Two-thirds of the lower house must approve the process for it to proceed.

Rousseff’s unpopular austerity efforts have foundered as the recession shrinks tax revenue faster than she can trim spending, eroding the credibility of her finance minister and leading Standard & Poor’s to cut Brazil’s credit rating to junk.

Government officials worry that plea bargain evidence from defendants in the Petrobras scandal could implicate Rousseff and ultimately fuel the case for impeachment.

Owing to the political drama and corruption scandals, Brazil has been engulfed by economic woes with the gross domestic product now shrinking at an annualised rate of nearly 7%, according to Bloomberg, and the budget deficit swelling to the widest in two decades.

It is based on accusations that Rousseff authorized questionable fiscal maneuvers relating to the country’s accounts.

“The basis of this [impeachment proceeding] is purely technical”, Mr Cunha said, dismissing the idea that his decision was motivated by personal or political reasons.

The monetary committee will adopt the necessary measures to ensure inflation “will be as close as possible to 4.5 percent in 2016” and “converges to the 4.5 percent inflation target in 2017”, policy makers said in the minutes to their November 24-25 meeting.

Thomaz Pereira, a law professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, says “you need a precise crime that can be personally pinned on the president in order to force resignation”.