When a corrupt president is abrogated by the Parliament

What to say about a parliament that refuses a hard-hitting report of corruption, drawn up by the Public Prosecutor's Office, and decides to prevent further investigation of a President who, moreover, is dismantling the country?

This is what happened this week in Brazil. And this is just one more episode in a long list started when this parliament, with cynicism and dissimulation, impeached the president Dilma Rousseff, a unblemished and honest person.

But let's go to the recent case. In mid-July, the Attorney General accused President Michel Temer of having committed a crime of passive corruption. Its denunciation states that, between March and April 2017, by its own will, the President received, through the Federal Deputy, Rocha Loures, the sum of R$ 500,000 (circa US$ 160,000) offered by the JBS business group.

In addition, the Public Prosecutor's Office affirms that the president accepted the promise of undue advantage in the amount of R$ 38 million (circa US$ 12 millions to act in defense of the interests of that company - amounts that would be paid in the sum of R$ 1 million per week for 38 weeks.

The prosecution has reconstituted this process in detail: since the dialogue held on March 7, 2017, recorded with the authorization of the Public Prosecutor's Office, between President Temer and the owner of the JBS company, up to the delivery of a suitcase with R$ 500,000 (circa US$ 160,000) to Deputy Rocha Loures, Temer's right-hand man, on April 28.

Under Brazilian law, the president can only be inquired by the Supreme Court, but for that to happen, the complaint must be accepted by the Chamber of Deputies.

Well, at yesterday's session the Chamber of Deputies refused the complaint and prevented the investigation from continuing.

What justifies that? The "pressure" of the government on the deputies. Pressure? Well, the pressure was as follows: R$ 2 billion (US$ 642 million) in parliamentary amendments + R$ 19 billion (US$ 6 billion) in public lands ceded to congressmen related to agribusiness lobby + R$ 11 billion (US$ 3,5 billion) in tax increases + R$ 26 billion (US$ 8,5 billion) passed by a provisional measure constituting a Rural Fund to support the interests of the agribusiness lobby + R$ 220 billion (US$ 70 billion) in debt forgiveness granted to tax-evading companies with interest to congressmen. Total invoice: R$ 278 billion (US$ 90 billion).