Lawyers to redraft impeachment request against Rousseff

A new impeachment petition against President Dilma Rousseff should be filed Friday (Oct. 16) by lawyers Hélio Bicudo, Miguel Reale, and Janaina Pascoal. The new request is an addition to an existing petition pending consideration by the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Cunha.

According to Deputy Carlos Sampaio, leader of the opposition Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), a new draft of the existing request should be filed following a recent Supreme Court (STF) injunction that suspended the impeachment procedures established by Cunha. The new filing should come after negotiations with the opposition.

Their plan is to supplement the revised document with recent reports by prosecutors working with the Federal Court of Accounts that found the federal government to have carried out transactions in violation of the Fiscal Accountability Act, based on financial statements from state banks.

For the opposition, the move would put “pressure” on Cunha to approve the new request containing evidence of compliance issues in Rousseff's ongoing second term in office, after the lower house speaker repeatedly said violations from past administrations could not lead to an ouster. “With this new finding that [the government's non-compliant accounting practices] continued into 2015, Cunha can't turn [the impeachment petition] down now, at least not on these grounds,” Sampaio said.

Asked by journalists if Cunha would have an appropriate ethical standing to decide on a potential case for impeachment when he himself faces charges of money laundering and corruption, Sampaio said that Cunha “should ideally be removed” from office.

Another five requests dismissed
Meanwhile, Eduardo Cunha said Tuesday (13) that he has turned down another five impeachment petitions against Rousseff because they fail to meet the statutory technical requirements. According to him, there are still three requests pending, one of which was drafted by lawyers Hélio Bicudo and Miguel Reale Júnior and they are now seeking to redraft.

“I'll waiting and see what changes they want to make and then I'll decide what I'm going to do,” said Cunha, adding that he's pressing on with analyzing the other requests. He also said is going to appeal the STF ruling against his guidelines for the impeachment proceedings. “I'm appealing the ruling. The Supreme Court plenary will have to decide on that.”

Translated by Mayra Borges