Off the wire
• Brazil' s new head of Supreme Court vows to bring changes  • China to streamline legal proceedings  • Feature: Vietnamese snapping up traditional, modern moon cakes ahead of Mid-Autumn Festival  • Australia eyes bumper winter crop  • China, Russia start joint navy drill in South China Sea  • China activates emergency response for Typhoon Meranti  • Russian oil transport monopoly to redirect oil export to domestic Baltic ports by 2018  • Indonesia mulls losing cellphone certification for global brands  • China's FDI returns to growth in August  • Roundup: 8 injured, property damage reported after S. Korea hit by biggest-ever quake  
You are here: 　 Home

Former head of Brazilian House of Representatives expelled from congress

Xinhua, September 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

Brazil's House of Representatives expelled its former head Eduardo Cunha late Monday for allegedly telling lies and taking bribes, but Cunha refuted that the move was nothing more than a political vendetta.

The decision was passed by 450 votes in favor and 10 against, with nine abstentions.

After the vote, Cunha said that "I made many mistakes, but they did not lead to my expulsion. I was victim of a political vendetta."

Last year, Swiss authorities uncovered a number of accounts in Cunha' s name and informed the Brazilian authorities. Months before, Cunha had said in a congressional inquiry that he did not have any money abroad.

Cunha is accused of taking millions of U.S. dollars in bribes to favor specific companies in public biddings of state-controlled oil giant Petrobras. He was mentioned in the testimonies of several accused in the Petrobras corruption scandal as one of the politicians who took the most bribes.

There are at least four Swiss accounts in Cunha's name. The massive bribes are reportedly the origin of the money he had stashed abroad.

Cunha was known for being one of the main articulators in former President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment process. Endi