Brazil senator who ran against Rousseff for president ousted

Brazil's Supreme Court voted 3-2 to oust Senator Aécio Neves from office. The court granted the motion lodged by the prosecutor-general in the case that saw Neves charged with corruption and obstruction of justice based on the plea bargain statements from company J&F.

The senator, a member of the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party), came second in the 2014 presidential elections. He got 51 million votes, whereas his opponent Dilma Rousseff, subsequently impeached, received 54.4 million votes.

In the same hearing, the court also unanimously denied the third request for the senator's preventive arrest, filed by former Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot, who left his post on September 17. The other two motions had been denied in individually issued rulings, also by the Supreme Court.

Neves is also banned from leaving his home at night and must not communicate with other individuals brought under investigation, among them his sister Andréa Neves. His passport was also confiscated.

Charges

In June, Senator Aécio Neves was charged with corruption and obstruction of justice for allegedly pocketing $630 thousand in kickbacks from executive Joesley Batista, owner of JBS, who appears with Neves in suspicious conversations recorded by the police. In a plea bargain testimony, Batista confesses to having carried out the illicit transaction.

The amount is believed to be requested by Neves himself, whose alleged purpose was to cover costs with lawyers. In exchange for the money, the senator is reported to have offered his political influence to facilitate the appointment of a director from mining giant Vale.

On the obstruction charges, the prosecutor-general accused Neves of seeking to have specific Federal Police authorities favorable to his cause spearhead the cases.

The senator denies the accusations. His counsel argues that the amount received from Batista was a loan of a personal nature and entirely in compliance with the law.

Aécio Neves was a major actor in the drive for the impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff. She was permanently removed from office by Congress in August 2016.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira