BRASILIA.—Eduardo Cunha, the suspended house speaker of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, threatened this Wednesday, June 15, to implicate 150 deputies, a minister and a senator close to the interim head of state of this nation, Michel Temer, if he is prosecuted on corruption charges.
The politician, accused of lying about undeclared Swiss bank accounts, has denied any wrongdoing and warned the interim President that should he be convicted, he will not go down alone.
This Tuesday, June 14, the Brazilian Ethics Committee voted to expel Cunha from the House, with eleven votes in favor and nine against.
The issue will go to a full Chamber of Deputies vote. Should the House vote to remove him, Cunha would face losing his partial immunity from prosecution.
Eduardo Cunhahas been one of the key driving forces behind the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff, who has been suspended for a period of 180 days.
Supporters of Michel Temer and allies of Cunha now believe that the situation is practically irreversible. Even if Cunha manages to survive the vote and keep his seat, he remains under investigation by the Supreme Federal Court.
Cunha is also accused of embezzling 5.7 million dollars in undeclared accounts.
Last week, a further allegation was made against Cunha. In addition to the secret accounts in Switzerland, he was accused of opening another account in Uruguay with at least 20 million dollars, diverted from state oil company Petrobras, in the country’s largest-ever corruption scandal.
