BRASILIA, Brazil – Impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff have put a spotlight on corruption in the ranks of Brazil’s lawmakers. Watchdog groups say about 60 percent of the 594 legislators in both chambers of Congress are being investigated for wrongdoing or are facing corruption charges, including the three men in line to replace Rousseff if she is removed from office.
FIRST IN LINE: Vice President Michel Temer
In a plea bargain, a former senator who had been a director of state-run oil company Transpetro made a direct link between Temer and the massive corruption probe centered on the main government oil company, Petrobras.
Sérgio Machado said that Temer asked him to channel $400,000 in Petrobras kickbacks to 2012 São Paulo mayoral candidate, Gabriel Chalita, a member of Temer’s party. Machado said the payments were made in the form of campaign donations by the construction firm Queiroz Galvão. Temer denies wrongdoing and has not been charged.
Another former senator turned state’s witness recently accused Temer of appointing a lobbyist to distribute bribes from 1997 to 2001 in ethanol deals involving Petrobras. He denies wrongdoing.
Temer is banned from running for office the next eight years because São Paulo’s electoral court found him guilty of violating campaign spending laws in 2014.
SECOND IN LINE: Speaker of the lower house of Congress, Rodrigo Maia
A key aide to a governor convicted of taking part in a corruption scheme involving overpriced contracts to many companies said Maia received illegal campaign donations.
The probe goes to back 2010. Maia denies wrongdoing and has not been charged.
THIRD IN LINE: Senate President Renan Calheiros
Calheiros would be acting president if Temer and Maia travel outside Brazil. The country’s Supreme Federal Tribunal currently has several open investigations against Calheiros in the Petrobras probe. He denies wrongdoing.
Former senator and Transpetro boss Sérgio Machado said Calheiros received almost $10 million in bribes over 10 years.
A former Petrobras director accuses Calheiros of threatening to withhold support unless he was paid off. The same ex-director says Calheiros was paid $1.7 million through a Petrobras lobbyist in a case related to drill ship contracts.
OUSTED: Former Chamber of Deputies Speaker Eduardo Cunha
Cunha, who spearheaded the impeachment measures against Rousseff, would have been second in line but was removed as speaker by Brazil’s highest court while he is investigated in several cases. He could still be stripped of his seat by his colleagues.
Prosecutors have accused Cunha of corruption and money laundering for his role in negotiating contracts for drill ships, and say he received an illegal payment of $5 million.
Swiss prosecutors say Cunha held secret bank accounts at Julius Baer bank, with media reports putting their value in December at 2.4 million Swiss francs ($2.5 million). Brazilian investigators say Cunha also has had undeclared accounts in the U.S. since 1990 totaling more than $20 million.
MAURICIO SAVARESE
