Brazil seeks legal block of Rousseff impeachment

SAO PAULO: Brazilian Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo will ask a Congressional committee on Monday to dismiss impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff on the grounds there is no legal basis for the claim, his office said in a statement.

Cardozo will argue that the decision by the speaker of the lower house, Eduardo Cunha, to accept the impeachment request was motivated by his desire for political revenge against his bitter political enemy, Rousseff.

The opposition’s impeachment request alleges that Rousseff deliberately manipulated budgetary accounts to boost her re-election campaign in 2014. Cardozo strongly denied that any lending from state banks to the Federal government was used to fund social programmes, the statement said.

In the latest step in a process that began with Cunha’s acceptance of the impeachment request late last year, the attorney general is expected to formally present Rousseff’s defence to the 65-member impeachment committee of the Chamber of Deputies at 5 pm (2000 GMT).

The committee has the job of recommending to the lower house whether there are grounds to impeach Rousseff.

The full house would then vote on the committee’s decision, which could happen as soon as mid-April.

Rousseff’s opponents need the votes of two-thirds of 513 deputies to take the impeachment case to the Senate.

Rousseff has to get 171 votes or abstentions to block the process.

A dozen other impeachment requests are waiting for consideration by Cunha, a fierce critic of Rousseff who himself is facing corruption charges for allegedly receiving millions in bribes and having undeclared Swiss bank accounts.

Cunha can accept a second bid to impeach the president in tandem with the current process but he is expected to do so only if the first case against Rousseff is defeated.