Over half of Brazilian committee that voted for Rousseff's impeachment face corruption charges
Over half of Brazilian committee that voted for Rousseff's impeachment face corruption charges
GlobalPost
April 12, 2016 · 4:30 PM EDT
By Will Carless
A congressional committee in Brasilia has recommended that impeachment proceedings continue against President Dilma Rousseff, another bleak sign for her administration. But after one look at the committee members, you might wonder who’s in worse trouble.
On Monday, the committee voted 38-27 for impeachment proceedings. That committee includes no fewer than 37 politicians who themselves face charges of corruption or other serious crimes, according to an analysis by The Los Angeles Times. Indeed, more than half of the committee members who voted in favor of the impeachment process are being investigated for corruption.
What’s remarkable about the dramatic efforts to oust Rousseff is that, by contrast, the president has not been directly implicated in corruption for her personal financial gain. Rousseff is accused of a lot of things — from ineptitude to plain arrogance — but stealing money is not officially one of them.
Rather, she’s accused of manipulating government accounts — shifting public money around in a sort of shell game — to cover budget shortfalls, and shore up votes, in the run-up to her re-election in 2014. She has never been charged for this and says she’s done nothing wrong.
More:
http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-04-12/over-half-legislators-who-voted-rousseffs-impeachment-face-corruption-charges
