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Brazil's Chamber of Deputies to decide fate of its former president

Xinhua, September 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

Brazil's Chamber of Deputies will decide the political future of its former president, Eduardo Cunha, on Monday night as he stands accused of breaking parliamentary decorum.

The session is due to start at 7:00 p.m. local time and could result in Cunha losing his mandate as deputy, after allegedly lying about not holding foreign bank accounts.

Cunha is an ally of President Michel Temer and a leading figure in the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB).

In October, Switzerland provided information to Brazilian authorities that several accounts were in Cunha's name, containing millions of U.S. dollars.

Cunha is also under investigation within the Petrobras corruption ring as witnesses have alleged he took 5 million U.S. dollars in bribes to facilitate contracts.

The Chamber's rapporteur in the case against Cunha, Marcos Rogerio, will speak for 25 minutes on Monday evening to present the arguments in favor of his removal from office.

Cunha's defense team will get the same time period to refute these arguments, while Cunha, who will attend the session, will also be invited to speak.

Deputies wishing to speak will be given five minutes each to do so before an electronic vote happens. A majority of 257 votes of the 513 members is needed for Cunha to be stripped of his seat. Enditem