The top attorney for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s government on Monday made his last stand against the effort to impeach her, lambasting the case and warning of a stain on democracy.
Brazilian Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo made his final arguments before a congressional impeachment committee, a clutch moment in a political crisis that has brought the government of Latin America’s biggest economy to the brink of collapse as it battles a deep recession and corruption allegations.
Cardozo denied Rousseff took out unauthorized government loans to hide the depth of the recession, and said the accusation was in any case not an impeachable offense.
“As such, impeaching her would be a coup, a violation of the constitution, an affront to the rule of law, without any need to resort to bayonets,” he told the 65-member committee.
The hearing marked the beginning of two crucial weeks that could decide Rousseff’s political fate.
The commission’s recommendation on whether to try Rousseff, expected on Monday next week, is to set the tone for a vote soon after in the lower house.
Two-thirds of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, or 342 votes, are needed to send the case for trial in the Brazilian Federal Senate. The lower house vote is expected to take place on April 17, newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported.
As the impeachment battle played out, Rousseff scrambled to cement new alliances after her main coalition partner, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), went over to the opposition last week.
The PMDB, a political juggernaut, is the party of Chamber of Deputies President Eduardo Cunha, the man leading the impeachment push, and Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer, who is to become president if it succeeds.
The attorney general called the case an “act of revenge” by Cunha, a scandal-plagued, but powerful politician.
He accused Cunha of unleashing the impeachment storm because he was furious the Rousseff administration “didn’t support him” when the chamber’s ethics committee opened an investigation into allegations he was involved in a huge embezzlement and bribery scandal at state oil company Petrobras.
“A new government must not be born with this stain of illegitimacy,” Cardozo said.
“Brazil’s democracy is at stake... Removing a head of state elected by the people is an exceptionally grave measure that cannot be based on her unpopularity,” he added.
Rousseff’s approval rating has plunged to 10 percent, according to polls.
However, those working to oust her also face serious allegations.
Temer has been linked to the Petrobras scandal, although he has not been charged. And Cunha was charged last year with taking millions of US dollars in bribes in the scandal.
Cunha was also among scores of Brazilians caught up in the “Panama Papers” scandal that erupted on Sunday when media published documents revealing offshore accounts held by public figures worldwide.
His name does not appear on the list, but it included one firm owned by him, according to three Brazilian news organizations that joined in publishing the leaks.
Cunha denied the allegation in a statement.
The PMDB was long an awkward partner for Rousseff and her Workers’ Party.
Now that their divorce is official, Rousseff, 68, is jettisoning PMDB appointees from prized government posts and giving them to parties that could bring her the congressional votes needed to avoid impeachment.
The latest casualty was the head of state tourism agency Embratur, a Temer appointee.
Rousseff could also find out this week if the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court agrees to let heavy-hitting, but controversial former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva join her Cabinet.
He has been barred, because he is accused in a case connected to the Petrobras scandal.
Huge opposition rallies and smaller pro-Rousseff rallies in recent weeks have highlighted sharp divisions in Brazil that some fear could turn violent, even as the Rio de Janeiro Olympics hover just four months away.
The political tensions have only exacerbated the country’s economic mess.
The market is now betting the economy will shrink by 3.73 percent this year, a central bank survey found — even worse than the IMF’s forecast of a 3.5 percent recession.
Brazil’s economy contracted 3.8 percent last year, and a second year of recession would be the worst slump since the Great Depression.
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