Update: and right on time, the Brazilian house speaker confirmed that the worst case scenario - for Temer - is on the table:
- BRAZIL NOW FACING MAJOR CRISIS: HOUSE SPEAKER MAIA
- BRAZIL JUDGE REJECTS TEMER CRIMINAL COMPLAINT VS JBS’S BATISTA
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Almost exactly one month after Brazil's stock market crashed, and the Real plunged after the country's never-ending political drama made a triumphal return following accusations that president Michel Temer had encouraged a "hush money" bribe to former House Speaker Eduardo Cunha in return for not getting dragged into the Carwash scandal, on Tuesday afternoon, Brazil’s federal police force said it has found evidence that the embattled president received bribes to help businesses, Brazil's O Globo reported.
Investigators said in a preliminary report published Tuesday by Brazil’s top court that Temer deserves to be investigated for passive corruption, a process that would likely culminate with his impeachment. Temer has denied any wrongdoing and has already pledged not to resign.
The news comes hours after a defiant Senate committee voted down a key anchor of Temer's proposed reform platform, the landmark labor reform bill, whose passage in the lower house in April prompted widespread protests by labor unions who are against the proposed legislation which would abolish mandatory payment of union dues by Brazilian workers. The vote was seen as a blow to the government, amid other political noise embroiling President Temer.
Even before today's police announcement, Brazil's Attorney General Rodrigo Janot said last month there were enough preliminary indications of wrongdoing for Temer to be investigated for corruption and obstruction of justice. And if Brazil’s top prosecutor agrees with the federal police recommendation, Congress will decide whether Temer should be investigated by the country’s Supreme Court. The court is the only body that can formally investigate the president.
If two-thirds of Congress votes to allow the investigation, Temer would be suspended from office pending trial, suffering the same fate as his predecessor Dilma Rouseff whose vice-president Temer was originally, and eventually managed to overthrow with an elaborate plot "exposing" her corrupt activities. Karma, it turns out, is a bitch in all jurisdications, including Latin America.