PMDB to Discuss Response to Police Raids on Speaker Cunha and Other Party Bosses

12/16/2015 - 11h08

A new phase of the Federal Police's Operation Lava Jato has seen a raid on the official residence of Eduardo Cunha, president of Brazil's lower house of Congress. Police are trying to determine whether Cunha used his position to block investigations; if evidence is found, they may issue a warrant for his arrest.

Cunha was not the only target of the raids. Several of his colleagues in the PMDB were also raided, including two ministers, a senator and allies of vice-president Michel Temer and Senate president Renan Calheiros. In total, there were 53 raids across eight Brazilian states.

The raid was not the only blow to Cunha on Tuesday (15). At the eighth attempt, the Congressional Ethics Council approved by 11 votes to 9 the continuation of the process to remove him from his post. The decision will be contested by Cunha's allies.

"What I find strange is this focus on the PMDB on the day of the Ethics Council vote, and on the day before the Supreme Court votes on impeachment," argued Cunha, who accused the PT of blaming the PMDB for the "attack on Petrobras".

Cunha was awake when the Federal Police banged on his door at 6am. The police took cellular phones, electronic devices and documents. Cunha maintains he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

The main concern for the Rousseff administration is the unpredictability of the PMDB reaction. The party executive is due to meet on Wednesday (16). Both opponents and allies of the government in the fight to prevent President Rousseff's impeachment were raided in the police operation.

Attention will now turn to Calheiros, who has been seen as having Rousseff's back in the Senate, against Cunha's scheming in the lower house of Congress. However, like Cunha, he is under investigation in Operation Lava Jato and was irritated by the raids.

The Supreme Court is due to decide whether Cunha should have accepted the impeachment request and will discuss the procedure for the impeachment process, should it go ahead.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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