Brazilian public prosecutors pressed corruption charges against Chamber of Deputies chief Eduardo Cunha before the Supreme Court.
Cunha is accused of having received $5 million in a scheme of kickbacks at state-owned oil company Petrobras, according to a statement by the prosecutor-general’s office. Cunha previously denied the charges.
The formal accusations against Cunha weaken one of the principal opponents of President Dilma Rousseff. As head of the lower house, he decides whether impeachment hearings against Rousseff proceed. Now, politicians will focus on Cunha’s political survival, instead of Rousseff’s, said Gabriel Petrus, political analyst at business consulting firm Barral M Jorge.
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