{"id":83561,"date":"2016-11-28T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=83561"},"modified":"2016-11-28T13:01:38","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T13:01:38","slug":"in-brazil-major-new-corruption-scandals-engulf-the-faction-that-impeached-dilma-rousseff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/11\/in-brazil-major-new-corruption-scandals-engulf-the-faction-that-impeached-dilma-rousseff\/","title":{"rendered":"In Brazil, Major New Corruption Scandals Engulf the Faction that Impeached Dilma Rousseff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"temer-brazil-brasil\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Leia em portugu\u00eas \u27f6<\/a><\/p>\n

25 Nov 2016 – <\/em>A primary argument made by opponents of impeaching\u00a0Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff was that removing her would immediately empower the truly corrupt politicians in Bras\u00edlia<\/a> \u2013 the ones who were the driving force behind her impeachment \u2013 and they would then use that power to kill ongoing corruption investigations and shield themselves from consequences for their own law-breaking. In that regard, Dilma\u2019s impeachment was not designed to punish corruption but to protect it. The last two weeks have produced new corruption scandals that have vindicated that view beyond what even its proponents imagined was possible.<\/p>\n

In his short time in office, Temer has already lost five\u00a0ministers to scandal, but these new controversies are the most serious yet. One major scandal involves an effort in\u00a0Congress \u2013 led by the very parties that impeached Dilma, with the support of some in Dilma\u2019s party \u2013 to pass a law that vests\u00a0themselves full legal amnesty for their crimes involving election financing. In late September, a bill appeared in Congress, seemingly out of nowhere, that would have retroactively protected\u00a0any member of Congress from being punished for the use of so-called \u201ccaixa dois\u201d (second box) monies in campaigns, whereby politicians receive under-the-table contributions from oligarchs and corporations that they do not declare.<\/p>\n

Many of Brazil\u2019s most powerful politicians \u2013 including its Foreign Minister, a majority of members of the lower House, and installed President Michel Temer himself (pictured above) \u2013 are implicated in this scheme and are thus threatened with the possibility of prosecution.\u00a0\u201cCaixa dois\u201d has been a key tactic used to bribe politicians. The issue has taken on particular urgency because the imprisoned billionaire CEO of the nation\u2019s construction giant Odebrecht, Marcelo Odebrecht, is about to finalize his plea agreement, and it will identify numerous key figures as having received millions of dollars in such undeclared donations.<\/p>\n

It has already been reported that Temer\u2019s Foreign Minister, Jos\u00e9\u00a0Serra, received R$ 23 million ($7 million) in such illegal funds<\/a>\u00a0from Odebrecht, much of which was deposited into a Swiss Bank account to avoid detection (those funds were for his losing 2010 presidential campaign against Dilma, showing how those who lost democratically and are mired in serious corruption are the ones who have now seized power due to Dilma\u2019s\u00a0impeachment).<\/p>\n

When this amnesty bill first appeared in September, it was done in such a way to prevent anyone from noticing, or finding out who was responsible. At the time, The Intercept Brasil described it<\/a>\u00a0as a move that \u201cshocked even the most longtime, jaded\u00a0observers of corrupt Bras\u00edlia plotting.\u201d That effort failed when two left-wing parties, PSOL and Rede, blew the whistle and impeded parliamentary efforts that would have enabled quick enactment (as disclosure: my husband, David Miranda, was elected to Rio\u2019s City Council last month on a PSOL ticket). But as we ended our September article\u00a0by noting: \u201cConvinced of their own entitlement and ability to act without consequence,\u00a0there is no doubt they will try again to lavish themselves with amnesty while nobody is looking.\u201d<\/p>\n

That time is now, except that they are doing it out in the open. Because virtually every party has major figures implicated by this illegal campaign scheme, most parties are openly united in support of this amnesty, on the theory that if they all act together, it won\u2019t be pinned on any one of them and nobody can be politically punished (while most large parties are overwhelmingly behind it, PT\u2019s delegation is split almost evenly on it, and\u00a0the same two left-wing parties that impeded it the first time are fully opposed).<\/p>\n

But the dominant group in the Congress is the one that led the impeachment battle and is now loyal to Temer, and they \u2013 composed of a huge number of members endangered by this \u201ccaixa dois\u201d lawbreaking \u2013 can ensure that this amnesty will pass. Temer himself has signaled that he will\u00a0not veto it, and his party, PMDB, is largely\u00a0supportive of it. The vote was scheduled for last week but, as public pressure mounted, the vote was delayed to this coming\u00a0Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The judge leading the corruption investigation, S\u00e9rgio Moro, warned this week that this amnesty bill could seriously impede his investigation \u2013 which is, of course, its central purpose. He warned more generally that retroactive amnesty measures that benefit the politicians who enact them are exactly the sort of thing that has destroyed faith in Brazil\u2019s political institutions.<\/p>\n

So here we have the very same people who impeached the democratically elected president in the name of punishing corruption and upholding the rule of law, using their ill-gotten power to shield themselves from accountability for their own political crimes. From the start, this was the fraud at the heart of Dilma\u2019s impeachment, and it is hard to put into words how clear and obvious it has now become. Even the\u00a0star columnist for O Globo \u2013 the newspaper that most agitated for impeachment \u2013 is now admitting that the central anti-impeachment argument is being proven correct, tweeting yesterday<\/a>: \u201cApproval of caixa dois amnesty reinforces PT\u2019s argument that Dilma was removed so that the Lava Jato corruption investigation could be stymied.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A aprova\u00e7\u00e3o da anistia do caixa 2 refor\u00e7a o discurso do PT de q Dilma foi derrubada p\/q a Lava-Jato pudesse ser estancada.<\/p>\n

— Blog do Noblat (@BlogdoNoblat) November 24, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n