RIO DE JANEIRO—Impeachment proceedings were opened Wednesday against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff by the speaker of the lower house of Congress, a sworn enemy of the beleaguered leader.
A special commission in which all political parties are represented must now weigh the decision of speaker Eduardo Cunha to open proceedings against Rousseff based on accusations her government broke fiscal responsibility laws by using money from state-run banks to fill budget gaps and pay for government social spending.
Rousseff sharply disputes the accusations—and most analysts at this point think she will survive.
“I’ve committed no illicit act, there is no suspicion hanging over me of any misuse of public money,” she said in a nationally televised statement. “I don’t have any offshore bank accounts, I have no hidden assets.”
The president’s statement was a direct jab at Cunha, who is charged with taking millions in bribes in connection to a massive kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras. Prosecutors say Cunha has at least $5 million hidden away in Swiss bank accounts—and it’s widely thought that he could be arrested.
Cunha is also facing the chance of being kicked out of the lower house, as an ethics committee in that body weighs whether it'll recommend a full vote on whether he can remain as a seated congressman while facing the corruption allegations.
Cunha’s decision to introduce the impeachment proceedings came just hours after three Workers’ Party deputies who are on the 21-member ethics committee that will determine whether the speaker faces a vote to be kicked out of congress indicated they would recommend that action against the speaker—viewed as a key decision as the committee is narrowly split.
