05 May 2016•Update: 06 May 2016
By Maria Pas Salas
SANTIAGO, Chile
The senator in charge of studying the possibility of impeachment against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has recommended the motion move forward that could remove the leader from office.
Sen. Antonio Anastasia on Wednesday presented his findings to a 21-member Senate committee that will vote Friday whether to send the recommendation to the body.
“We are facing a claim that is based on evidence of irregularities that could put at risk the fiscal responsibilities,” Anastasia told the committee.
Rousseff is accused of violating fiscal rules to mask budget issues in the lead up to the 2014 presidential elections. Her defense insists that the procedure is an attempted coup against her government.
The political crisis in the country has been aggravated by a rash of corruption cases amid Brazil’s worst economic recession since 1930.
If the Senate committee approves the motion, the full body will decide on the matter in a vote next Wednesday. A majority of 41 out of 81 votes in favor is needed to proceed with a political trial against the president.
If passed, Rousseff will be suspended from office for up to 180 days while Vice President Michel Temer, who is also under investigation, assumes leadership of the country.
Temer, who is already forming a Cabinet for a potential transitional government, would remain in power until the end of Rousseff’s term in 2018.
Anastasia´s recommendation comes after Attorney General Rodrigo Janot asked to investigate Rousseff for obstruction of justice in a massive corruption probe of state-owned oil giant Petrobras.
At least 30 individuals with close ties to Rousseff have been named in the investigation, including popular former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
