Brazil's Senate president ousted over embezzlement charges
Source: Reuters
Brazil's Senate president ousted over embezzlement charges
Renan Calheiros, key ally to Brazilian president Michel Temer, becomes latest politician to fall amid widening investigation into corruption
Reuters
Monday 5 December 2016 20.01 EST
Brazil’s supreme court on Monday removed Renan Calheiros as president of the Senate after he was indicted last week on charges of embezzlement, a court spokesman said.
The removal of Calheiros was a new blow for Brazil’s president, Michel Temer, whose government has been weakened by corruption scandals as it strives to push through unpopular austerity measures.
His replacement by Senator Jorge Vianna of the leftist Workers party, who is opposed to spending cuts, could challenge efforts to control a widening budget deficit in Latin America’s largest economy, which is mired in a two-year recession.
Justice Marco Aurelio de Mello imposed an injunction against Calheiros based on a majority ruling by the high court last month that any person indicted for a crime could not be in the presidential line of succession.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/06/brazil-senate-president-ousted-embezzlement-renan-calheiros
= new reply since forum marked as read
