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).
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