Lower House Speaker: Rousseff lied when denied political bargaining
Lower House Speaker Eduardo Cunha
Lower House Speaker Eduardo Cunha said today (Dec. 3) that President of the Republic Dilma Rousseff "lied to the society" when announced, during her statement on national television, that her government does not make "bargains" with Congress.
Cunha, who initiated yesterday (Dec. 2) the president's impeachment proceedings, said that Wednesday morning Chief of Staff Jaques Wagner worked as a middle-man for arranging deals between Rousseff and Deputy André Moura, responsible for the report on Tax Reform at the lower house.
"She lied to the nation when said that she and her government did not make bargains. Yesterday, the deputy met the president who tried to make a deal over the support of Workers' Party's (PT) members [to vote for dropping the case against Cunha on the Ethics Committee] in exchange of the CPMF tax's approval," he reported. Cunha said he already knew this fact, but did not disclose the information before, because Moura had not authorized it yet.
The government has added the collection of the CPMF tax (Provisional Tax on Financial Transactions) to revenues for 2016 budget plan, even though the Congress has not approved the bill yet.
According to the speaker, Chief of Staff Jaques Wagner also tried to talk to him throughout the day, in order to avoid initiating impeachment proceedings. Cunha assured he has not spoken to Wagner until he called the press conference to announce his decision.
Eduardo Cunha reiterated that his post holds the constitutional duty to initiate the proceedings, and that the decision was "exclusively" based on facts grounded on the Budget Law. The speaker reaffirmed that he did not have any personal motives. He argues that Rousseff signed six decrees authorizing additional credit operations, which increased federal spending this year, and violated the annual budget law, without being approved by Congress.
Pronouncement
Responding to Cunha's announcement to initiate impeachment proceedings, President Dilma Rousseff said yesterday that the news was outraging.
The president rebutted the possibility that her allies have been working on political bargains with the deputies, offering to vote for the dropping of the case against the house speaker in exchange of rejecting impeachment bids.
"I would never accept or agree to any kind of bargaining, let alone one that threatens the free functioning of my country's democratic institutions, perverts the course of Justice, or violates the moral and ethical principles that should govern public life," said the president.
Ethics Committee
In the Ethics Committee, Eduardo Cunha is probed for allegedly receiving kickback money in a corruption scheme investigated under Operation Car Wash and for keeping secret accounts in Switzerland, according to allegations of the Prosecutor-General's Office (PGR). Cunha was also accused of lying when denied to have accounts during testimony at Petrobras Congressional Committee of Inquiry (CPI).
The committee has already tried four times to analyze and vote on Deputy Fausto Pinato's report, recommending the continuity of the case against the speaker. The case is still under the stage of debates, because allies of Cunha have been exploiting procedural loopholes to postpone the case's decision to 2016.
On Thursday (Dec. 3), Cunha reaffirmed that he did not make bargains with the PT to avoid the process against him and that he cannot respond for the acts of allies and lawmakers who want to defend him.
Translated by Amarílis Anchieta
Fonte: Lower House Speaker: Rousseff lied when denied political bargaining
