Former Brazilian speaker ousted over Swiss bank accounts

Brazil’s lower house of Congress has voted to unseat its ex-speaker Eduardo Cunha, the main driver behind the impeachment process against former President Dilma Rousseff.

According to Press TV, on Tuesday, lawmakers at the Chamber of Deputies overwhelmingly decided to remove Cunha from his legislative seat in a 450-10 vote for having lied about his secret banking accounts in Switzerland. Nine legislators also abstained.

Cunha was ousted “for conduct incompatible with lawmakers’ duties,” according to a statement read out after the vote.

The former speaker, who had been in his fourth term as a lawmaker, also stands accused of receiving millions of dollars in bribes in connection with a corruption scandal at state oil company Petrobras, but his banking accounts were the only issue on the lower house’s agenda.

In July, he was forced to resign as speaker after his secret accounts were revealed, but he refused to give up on his congressional seat.

Swiss prosecutors said he held secret bank accounts at Julius Baer bank, with a value in December at $2.5 million.

Brazilian investigators also said he has had undeclared accounts in the United States since 1990 totaling more than $20 million. Cunha, however, denies any wrongdoing.

With the loss of his seat, Cunha now loses his partial immunity from being prosecuted.

During the presentation of his defense in the Chamber of Deputies, the former speaker described his ouster as a “political process because I kicked off the impeachment proceedings.”

“The current administration [of President Michel Temer] adopted the agenda of removing me from office,” he added.

ME