Under Pressure
Brazil’s top prosecutor issued a 64-page indictment of President Michel Temer on Monday, detailing charges of corruption that will increase the pressure on him to resign.
The indictment makes Temer the first sitting president in Brazil to face criminal charges, the Washington Post reported.
The lower Chamber of Deputies in Congress must now decide whether the case has merit. If two-thirds of the legislature decides that it does, then the president will be suspended for up to 180 days while a trial is conducted, the paper said.
Attorney General Rodrigo Janot alleged that Temer took a bribe of around $150,000 offered by Joesly Batista, former chairman of meatpacking giant JBS, between March and April this year. Temer has also been implicated by a recording that appears to feature him soliciting a payment to former House Speaker Eduardo Cunha to prevent him from testifying to the authorities.
Temer insists he has done nothing wrong and says he won’t resign. But his already dismal approval rating is plunging and he faces growing pressure to step down.
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