Brazilian Supreme Electoral Court Delays Trial of Dilma-Temer Ticket

04/05/2017 - 13h58

The decision from the TSE (Federal Supreme Electoral Tribunal) which delayed the trial of the invalidation of the Dilma Rousseff-Michel Temer ticket left the calendar for the proceedings unpredictable and provided space for the government to move ahead with important votes in Congress in the short run, including Social Security reform.

The first session set to rule on the proceedings was interrupted after the judges agreed to give the ticket's defense more time and to hear from more witnesses, among them political marketing executive João Santana and former minister Guido Mantega.

The case's Rapporteur, Herman Benjamin, surprised his colleagues on the tribunal by agreeing to extend the 48 hours given to the defense last week for presenting its final report. The tribunal granted five days.

According to the *Folha*'s investigation, the Rapporteur told his colleagues that he had decided to be pragmatic because he realized that the other justices could vote against him, and that there was the risk that someone could request a review of the case at this stage, which would have resulted in a suspension for an indefinite period of time.

In addition to this, just minutes before the session was to begin, Federal Prosecutor Nicolão Dino, who is working on the case for the Public Electoral Ministry, told the TSE justices that João Santana had closed a plea bargain agreement with the Brazilian Federal Prosecutor General.

The political marketing executive is fingered in testimony from Odebrecht executives, including that of former president Marcelo Odebrecht, as the recipient of at least R$ 20 million (US$ 6,35 million) in off-the-books campaign funds for the Dilma-Temer campaign in 2014.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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