In a last ditch move to avoid impeachment, the embattled Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff filed an appeal with the Supreme Court late Tuesday to stop the impeachment process against her.
Brazilian Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo filed the appeal on behalf of Rousseff on the grounds that the former President of the Brazilian Lower House – equivalent of Speaker of the House – Eduardo Cunha had manipulated “the impeachment process through misuse of power.”
The Brazilian Senate began debating the impeachment Wednesday and may oust Rousseff from office at the end of the day. Rousseff stands accused of manipulating the country’s finances in the run up to her 2014 re-election.
Brazil has been in a state of total political turmoil for months. Rousseff was already impeached by the Brazilian Lower House in April and if impeached by the Senate will be suspended from office for 180 days during an impeachment trial. Only a simple majority is needed for Rousseff’s impeachment.
Many members of Brazil’s political and business elite have been caught up in a scandal known as Lava Jato – Portuguese for Car Wash. The Car Wash scandal has already claimed the career of the founder of Brazil’s largest investment bank and the freedom of the boss of Brazil’s largest construction firm.
Former left wing union boss and Brazilian president Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva was briefly detained by authorities investigating corruption. In the Car Wash scandal it is alleged that Rousseff and Lula’s Workers’ Party used the country’s state oil company as a slush fund for campaign cash.
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