After Dismissal of His Appeal, Cunha Says He Will Appeal to the Supreme Court

07/15/2016 - 16h57

On Thursday, July 14, Brazilian Federal Legislator Eduardo Cunha, who was removed from office, suffered yet another defeat in the process to revoke his mandate in the House of Representatives. Cunha says he is the victim of "revenge" and announced that he will appeal to the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) to try to reverse the situation.

	Renato Costa/Folhapress
	Brazilian Federal Legislator Eduardo Cunha, who was removed from office.

In a 48-12 voting session, the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) rejected Cunha's appeal to restart the revoking process at the Ethics Council on the grounds of irregularities in the proceedings. The Ethics Council had approved the revoke of Cunha's mandate on June 14, with 14 votes in favor and 9 against.

The representatives in the Lower House will now make the final decision whether to cancel Cunha's mandate or not, which may lead to his losing his mandate as he is accused of hiding bank accounts abroad – in October 2015, the Public Prosecutor's Office of Switzerland sent documents to Brazil containing three bank accounts in the country whose final beneficiary was Cunha.

The voting session in the Lower House is likely to occur in August when legislators will be back from holidays. Cunha said that he will represent himself in his defense as he did at the CCJ. As votes are made public, even Cunha's allies believe that he will lose his mandate by a large margin.

After the defeat, Cunha criticized what he called "quick revenge" against him and said that he will appeal to the Supreme Court at the end of the proceedings, in August. Cunha's intention is to cancel the proceedings and bring the process back to its beginning.

The Supreme Court, however, has issued successive orders against Cunha and unanimously approved his removal from office as he was suspected of using his position to block the investigations.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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