Brazil federal police accuse president of getting bribes

Source: Associated Press


Mauricio Savarese, Associated Press
Updated 9:37 pm, Tuesday, June 20, 2017





SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's federal police said Tuesday that investigators have found evidence President Michel Temer received bribes to help businesses, raising a new threat that the embattled leader could be suspended from office pending a corruption trial.

Temer has been under investigation due to plea bargain testimony by wealthy businessman Joesley Batista of the giant meatpacking company JBS that linked the president and an aide to bribes and the president to an alleged endorsement of hush money for jailed ex-House Speaker Eduardo Cunha.

 
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If Brazil's top prosecutor agrees with the federal police recommendation, Congress will decide whether Temer should be investigated by the Supreme Court, which is the only body that can formally investigate the president. If two-thirds of Congress voted to allow the investigation, Temer would be suspended from office pending trial.

 
In a report published Tuesday by Brazil's top court, federal police investigators said they have enough evidence of bribes being paid to warrant a formal investigation of Temer for "passive corruption" — Brazil's charge for the act of taking bribes. It said former Temer aide Rodrigo Rocha Loures directly received bribes from JBS on the president's behalf.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Brazil-s-Temer-accused-of-passive-corruption-by-11234227.php